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Online Seminar: Update on Oaks-Trees in Transition, August 17

August 3, 2023

Gardening in the Mountains presents:
Update on Oaks – Trees in Transition

Thursday, August 17, 2023
10 – 11:00 a.m.

Virtual attendance via Zoom video and audio internet connection

Presenter: Dr. Ryan Blaedow, Forest Health Protection, USDA Forest Service

Oaks, the beloved trees of our forests and landscapes! How vital they are in their support to the many life forms in our gardens and yet they struggle with the ever changing conditions and urbanization of the environments in which they live. 

 Join us to learn from plant pathologist and oak decline expert Ryan Blaedow about the health and status of oaks in western North Carolina.

Registration: The talk is free but registration is required. Please click on the link below to register. If you encounter problems registering or if you have questions, call 828-255-5522.

Register on Eventbrite

Zoom seminar access: After registration, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join this online live broadcast via Zoom. The ability to access Zoom through a computer, tablet or smartphone with a reliable internet connection is necessary to attend.

 

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Categories Lectures & Seminars Tags oak, red oaks, trees, white oaks

Online Seminar: Planting Success – Trees & Shrubs, July 20

July 6, 2023

Gardening in the Mountains presents:
Planting Success – Trees & Shrubs

Thursday, July 20,2023
10 – 11:00 a.m.

Virtual attendance via Zoom video and audio internet connection

Presenter: Barbara Fair, NC State Extension Horticulture Specialist and Associate Professor

Properly planting trees and shrubs helps them establish early and contributes to long and healthy lives.  Questions about soils and amendments, hole size and depth, back fill and whether to stake and wrap the trunk can be site specific and are not always easily answered.  Join Barbara Fair as she shows proper planting techniques for trees and shrubs and how to recognize problems that may develop years later when trees are not planted correctly.

Barbara Fair’s professional and research expertise is in arboriculture – the study of trees. She works with green industry professionals and others throughout NC to educate and promote research-based information regarding plant selection, installation and maintenance to ensure the development of long-lived, healthy landscapes.

Registration: The talk is free but registration is required. Please click on the link below to register. If you encounter problems registering or if you have questions, call 828-255-5522.

Register on Eventbrite

Zoom seminar access: After registration, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join this online live broadcast via Zoom. The ability to access Zoom through a computer, tablet or smartphone with a reliable internet connection is necessary to attend.

 

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Categories Lectures & Seminars Tags proper planting techniques, shrubs, trees

Pest Facts: Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA)

October 28, 2019

Just visit a Western North Carolina forest to see how much destruction this non-native invasive insect pest has caused—and is still causing—on the native Carolina hemlocks (Tsuga caroliniana) and Eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis)! After our recent rains, this is a good time to treat your hemlocks if you see a white cottony substance on your hemlocks.

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

History

  • HWAs were discovered in Shenandoah National Park in northern Virginia in 1988, likely when crawlers clung to the legs and feathers of migrating birds, such as the black-throated green warbler and solitary vireo that visit or nest in hemlock trees.
  • HWAs were discovered on hemlocks in North and South Carolina in late 2001 and early 2002.

HWA (Adelges tsugae) Life Cycle:

  • HWAs hatch from eggs and then go through a crawler stage—almost invisible to the naked eye. These crawlers cannot fly on their own but can drift in the air from tree to tree, and cling to the legs and feathers of migrating birds.
  • After settling on host trees, the HWAs insert a bundle of mouthparts at the base of a needle and spend the rest of their lives—a few months—sucking nutrients out of the tree.
  • The name “woolly” comes from the fact that adult HWAs are covered with a protective white fluff once they settle.
  • The HWA goes through two generations a year (one in March and one in October in Western North Carolina) and each female—even without being fertilized by a male—can lay between 100 to 300 eggs.
  • This reproductive process is called “parthenogenesis”—the offspring are genetically identical clones of their mother.

Controls

Chemical: Registered pesticides containing imidacloprid or dinotefuran are the most effective chemical treatments for control of HWAs. These are applied as a soil injection or trunk spray. These insecticides are water soluble and move into the tree’s vascular system along with water. Dinotefuran has a faster uptake, but imidacloprid has a longer residual protection. Control of HWAs using imidacloprid can last for 4-5 years. Dinotefuran may require retreatment within 2 years.

Biological:

The species that has so far shown the most promise as a biological control agent is Laricobius nigrinus, a predator beetle native to the Pacific Northwest. L. nigrinus is active from October to March; both adults and larvae will consume all stages of HWAs: eggs, nymphs and adults.

After exhaustive evaluation in quarantine labs, it was cleared by the USDA for use as an HWA biocontrol in the eastern United States in 2000 and has been released in NC since 2003.

Original Article by Glenn Palmer, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer, Revised by Bob Wardwell, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer

Hemlock Restoration Initiative https://savehemlocksnc.org/

National Park Service Great Smoky Mountains Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/hemlock-woolly-adelgid.htm

University of Massachusetts HWA Fact Sheet https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/fact-sheets/hemlock-woolly-adelgid

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Categories Invasive Insects, Pest Management, Trees Tags Biological Control, Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, insects, pest control, trees

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