New Threat To Douglas Fir (Continued from Page D 1) nia, Lehman said, “How did it get here? We have no idea.” This midge was previously de tected in Juniata County in 1995 on Douglas fir trees from Oregon. After the first detection, follow up investigations showed no new infections. Lehman stressed that the Douglas fir needle midge “is re stricted to the Douglas fir. It is not going to affect any of the other fir trees. It is not going to affect any of the pine. It is not going to affect any of the spruces.” This midge is a small fly whose larvae live in the Douglas fir tree needle and feed on the plant ma terial. When there is an infesta tion in a tree, needles will have a gall (bulge), needles will have dis coloration, or, if in the fall, small o CD LOVES A 'Tl&tr SPOT. You grow the fruit of the land. And that usually puts you in a tight spot. A regular tractor in your orchard or grove or vineyard can be like a bull in a china shop. 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It is going to make the tree unsellable,” in re gards to Christmas tree sales. Noting that the midge is an “aesthetic problem,” Lehman said that needle loss and needle breakage “make a ratty looking tree.” The cycle of this midge begins with its larvae wintering in the soil under infested trees. In the spring, it will emerge and the adults will deposit eggs on the emerging buds and elongating needles. The larvae hatch and chew into the needle: needles will form a gall around the larvae. In the late summer, larvae will emerge from the underside of the needle and drop back into the soil. A challenge with this pest is misdiagnosis by growers. Two diseases that Douglas fir needle midge can be mistaken for is Rhabdocline needle cast in the late winter and early spring, and needle bends might be misdiag nosed as damage from Cooley adelgid. To complicate diagnosis, this needle midge and either Rhabdo cline or adelgid can occur at the same time. In addition to misdiagnosis, the other challenge is a tree pro ducer could have an infestation jL & a & v * Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 6, 2003, Grower & Marketer-D3 Rayanne Lehman shows an easy, inexpensive way to trap midges to monitor when they emerge from the soil in the spring. Photo by Charlene Shupp Espenshade and not realize that it is needle midge because of its newness to Pennsylvania. Lehman stresses this is a good time for growers to be evaluating their trees for signs of infestation. “The gall is most noticeable” and if found, growers should begin to make plans for spring trapping before bud break. Right now the only controls available to tree producers are through spraying and chemical Taking Off The Top Bad For Trees UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Getting a bad haircut is just a temporary condition in which the hair grows back none the worse for wear. But removing the entire canopy of a tree a practice called “topping” has much more lasting and some times fatal consequences, warns an arborist in Penn State’s Col lege of Agricultural Sciences. “Topping trees is not prun ing,” explained Bill Elmendorf, assistant professor of urban and community forestry in the School of Forest Resources. “It is indis criminate, drastic cutting and a reduction in the tree’s energy- Managing Woodlands For Recre ational Purposes, Lake Morey Resort, Fairlee, Vt., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., (802) 656-0037. Montgomery County Farm Mar ket Seminar, Session 1, Coch ranville Community Center, 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., (610) 696-3500. Organic Produce Growers’ Meet ing, Iron Skillet Restaurant, Petro Shopping Center, Avoca, 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m., (570) 963-6842. Grounds Managers’ Winter Seminar, Warrington Motor Lodge, Warrington, PA, (215) 345-3283. Tuesday, December 16 Montgomery County Farm Mar ket Seminar, Session 2, Honey Brook Twp. Building, Honey Brook, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. New England Vegetable and Berry Conference, Center of New Hampshire Holiday Inn, Manchester, N.H., thru Dec. 18, (413) 545-3696. Thursday, January 8 ,Y. AGR-Lite meetings on greenhouse fruit and vege tables, Riverhead Suffolk Co operative Extension, (607) 255-3688. controls. “When you get a new pest into an area,” said Lehman, “for some reason the pest moves, but its bio control agents don’t move as eas ily. It will be awhile before the bio-control agents catch up.” If producers think they have needle midge or need assistance in diagnosis, Lehman encouraged producers to contact their local PDA plant inspector or Penn State extension office. producing factory the canopy." Elmendorf said cutting the central trunk and tops of main branches severely weakens a tree by removing both leaves and stored carbohydrates. Topping reduces a tree's ability to generate food and energy bv pho tosynthesis. “Topping is really the ultimate m tree abuse,” Elmendorf said “It’s usually done by unqualified and unknowledgeable tree cut ters. In some cases, qualified ar borists top trees at the insistence of homeowners who don’t under stand the damage they are pay ing to have done to their tree.” alendar Pennsylvania Farm Show, Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg, thru Jan. 17. Tuesday, January 13 New Jersey Vegetable Growers Annual Convention, Borgata Hotel Casino, Atlantic City, thru Jan. 15, (856) 797-1686. New York AGR-Lite meeting on greenhouse fruit and vege tables, State Experiment Sta tion, Highland. N.Y., (607) 255-3688. New York AGR-Lite meeting on greenhouse fruit and vege tables, Iroquois Banquet Hall, Canajoharie, (607) 255-3688. New York Low-Input Sustain able Farming Conference, New York State Experimental Station, Geneva. Tuesday, January 27 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention, Hershey Lodge and Convention Center, thru Jan. 29. Wine Grape and Small Fruit Pro gram at the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Hershey Lodge and Convention Center, Her shey.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers