Hot dog!  Things are starting to move – weatherwise! Otherwise, we are still here but the weather looks more inviting.

May 1                    May 6

Champlain           11                           18

Geneva                26                           36

Riverhead            39                           52

Bud break is the time that many insects start feeding – all that nice soft needle tissue, yum! Horticultural oils – if they can be used on the species you are growing – are often applied at bud break or just before. Remember to check the temperature before you apply it!

Things to look for:

Balsam twig aphid – eggs hatching 30-100 GDD. Check twigs near base of needles for eggs. Check new needles as buds start to open for nymphs which will become the ‘stem mothers’ which produce the most damaging next generation of nymphs – no eggs required. If your trees are close to harvest and you find eggs/nymphs, treat.

Take your handlenses!

White pine weevil – 7-58 GDD when the forsythia blooms. Check terminals 7-10 inches below the terminal bud for adults feeding and laying eggs in bark. This is the time to treat if necessary.

Spruce spider mite – 50-121 GDD for egg hatch.  Did you have damage last fall (bronzing or yellow stippling on interior needles)? Check those areas.  Eggs are very small and hard to see but tap branches over something white to see the mites. (I’ve heard they are dark green when squashed.) If you see fast moving orangey mites, hooray!  They are likely predatory mites keeping your pest mite populations down.  Miticides will kill them so only treat if necessary (they are probably there even if you don’t see them).

Eastern spruce gall adelgid – 22-170 GDD scout for stem mothers at base of needles. They lay eggs which hatch to nymphs which feed on the new growth and form pineapple shaped galls.  This isn’t as common as other adelgids.  Has anyone seen this?

Cooley spruce gall adelgid – 22-81 for nymphs before they start to feed on new growth and create the galls that protect them.