Washington County Cooperative Extension Service
HORTICULTURE September 2020
Expect an Early Invasion of Stink Bugs this Fall
Volume 16 Inside this issue:
Early Sink Bug Invasion
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September To Do’s
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Fall Vegetable Gardening 4 Wolf Spiders
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Recipe of The Month
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Based on what I saw while entering my home this weekend, brown marmorated stink bug has begun the search for overwintering sites. This is about 11 days earlier than what I have seen before. So, if you have had problems with them using your home as their overwintering hotel, now is the time to be sure your home has been pestproofed. Shorter day length is a trigger for many insects to begin searching for protected places to pass the winter, and for some stink bugs, ladybugs, and boxelder bugs that can mean your home! The best method to deal with fall insect invaders is prevention: pest proofing your home to keep them out in the first place. In Kentucky, we have a number of insects that may choose to move into homes for the winter including brown marmorated stink bug, multicolored Asian lady beetle, boxelder bug, western conifer seed bug, and cluster flies. Of these, brown marmorated stink bug is usually the first to search for protected places to spend the winter. Multicolor Asian lady beetle begins seeking refuges a month or more after the stink bug. Homes that have had a history of unwanted fall invaders should expect problems in the future.
Follow Us at Washington County Extension Service Figure 1. Brown marmorated stink bug can squeeze through cracks less than 1/6 inch in width. (Photo: Ric Bessin, UK)
Expect an Early Invasion of Stink Bugs this Fall Preventing Insect Invasions There are a number of steps to properly pest-proof your home, but the primary method is to exclude pests by sealing places through which they enter. Here are steps to reduce problems with fall insect invasions. Seal cracks around doors, windows, and dryer vents with caulk. Cracks as small as 1/8 inch will permit some insects to pass. Seal openings around pipes and wires in the foundation and siding with caulk, expandable foam for larger openings, or other suitable material.
Check the seal under doors. While lying on the floor, look for light filtering underneath. Replace door sweeps and thresholds as needed. Replace torn or damaged window screens. Consider adding a chimney cap to exclude brown marmorated stink bug and other wildlife. Cover attic and roof vents with hardware cloth. The cloth needs to be 1/6 inch or smaller to exclude brown marmorated stink bug. Apply a barrier insecticide to the exterior of the home. Treat areas underneath and around doors, windows, utility openings, and around the base of the foundation. Read and follow all label directions.
Removal Once Insects Invade
Indoors during winter, brown marmorated stink bug try to congregate in various places inside structures. This can be in chimneys, closets, window air conditioning units, attics, behind books on a shelf, etc. Insecticides are not recommended inside the home to control pests after they have entered. The best way to remove them once inside is with a vacuum. A knee-high stocking can be used in the suction tube of the vacuum to reduce the number of bags needed. Just drop the stink bugs into soapy water. Various types of light-baited/ funnel traps and soapy water traps have been used successfully to remove them from dark areas in a home. By Ric Bessin, Entomology Extension Specialist
September To-Do’s .Keep watering and fertilizing annuals, they can give you terrific color until frost. Don’t trim trees and shrubs now, wait until the plants go completely dormant. You can trim evergreens in December if you want greenery for the holidays. It is best to trim trees and shrubs in February. Unless they bloom in the spring and then you wait and prune just after they finish blooming.
Spray spider mites with Avid, insecticidal soap, or horticultural oil. Don’t apply the soaps or oils to blue spruce etc., it will take the blue off.
Remove and destroy all “mummies” from fruit crops. Mummies are dead or December. dried fruit that doesn’t fall from the tree. This material acts as a reservoir for next years pests. Keep newly seeded lawns or areas well watered until it is well established and has had a couple Do soil tests on areas you plan to mowing's. plant fruit crops such as blueberries and strawberries next year. It takes 3 Remove and destroy all old vegetable to 6 months for lime or Sulphur to Don’t apply weed killers to newly plants. These plants harbor insect activate. seeded or sodded areas. and disease that will be ready to infest your garden next year. If you September is a good time to divide compost this material make sure that Control fruit flies that have been entering your house on the increased and plant perennials. Its still warm your pile gets hot enough to destroy fruits and vegetable you have been enough for growth to occur without these organisms. bringing in lately by simply sucking too much stress and it gives them them up with the vacuum. time to root in before winter. If you aren’t sure your pile is hot enough make a separate pile for Make a fruit fly trap by mixing a Go ahead and soil test your flower vegetable plants and don’t put this quarter cup of apple cider vinegar beds. Most flowers prefer a pH compost back in the vegetable garwith a quarter cup water and one between 5.5 and 6.5. Now is a good den. drop of dish liquid. The flies are time to correct any pH problems drawn to the vinegar and will land on where the plants will be ready to Plant newly purchased tress now but the surface of the water, without the grow come spring. keep them well watered. September soap they can stand on water but the planted tress have a chance to root in soap breaks the tension and they well before cold temperatures. drown! You can also cut and invert Don’t apply Nitrogen to perennials in the fall this includes September. Don’t prune trees and shrubs now. an old plastic bottle so even if they get in and don’t land of the water they are trapped. Plant Garlic bulbs now for harvest Check spruce and arborvitae for next July. Be sure to plant the root spider mites. Place a white sheet of Take a soil test of your lawn before or fat end down. paper under some of the branches and tap it. If you have an infestation you spot seed or renovate. Its not too late to sow spinach, you will be able to see the little radish, mustards, lettuce and other creatures on the paper. Don’t fertilize existing lawns now, wait until late October, November, cool season vegetables.
Planting Fall Vegetables In Kentucky It’s not too late to continue to enjoy your garden and to add new plantings. You can grow a variety of produce in Kentucky gardens in the coming weeks and have several fresh items available well into the fall.
Plant of the month Purple Top Turnip!
Cooler nights later in the year can increase the sugar content of many crops and thus increase their quality. Cooler nights also slow growth, so your crops can take longer to mature than in the summer. Keep this slower pace in mind when you check seeds for days to maturity.
Early August is the right time to make your last planting of bush beans, carrots, sweet corn, kale, collards, bibb lettuce, turnips, and cole crops such as kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. For late August and into September you can try planting mustard greens, spinach greens, radishes, turnip greens and leaf lettuce. Before planting, remove any existing debris, including crops and weeds from your garden bed, move them to the compost bin and then prepare the soil. If the previous crop was well fertilized and grew vigorously you may not need to add much, if any additional fertilizer, otherwise apply about 2 to 3 pounds of a complete fertilizer such as 5-1010 or 10-10-10 per 100 square feet of planting area. Remember to keep fall gardens well watered as this tends to be a fairly dry time in Kentucky. A weekly irrigation sufficient to wet the soil to 6 or 8 inches should be adequate. This is more or less equivalent to a weekly 1-inch rain. To learn more about fall gardening options, contact the Washington County Cooperative Extension Service and ask for publication ID-128, “Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky.” You may also view the publication online at http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/id/id128/id128.pdf Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.
Article written by Dr. Rick Durham University of Kentucky Consumer Horticulture Specialist.
Awoo! Wolf Spiders of Kentucky Wolf spiders get a bad rap. They are common spiders, found under logs and rocks, as well as in open areas. They are also active hunters, meaning that they don’t spin a web like some of their more famous relatives. They can produce spider silk, but they use it for lining burrows or wrapping eggs sacs instead. They are large spiders; the main portion of their body is usually an inch on its own, with legs added in, they can be around 2 inches wide. The Carolina wolf spider is one of the larger spider species we see in Kentucky. Their size is useful for them to stalk and subdue large prey; prey that we often consider to be pests. Not only are they big, but they are fast too!
Some of these spider attributes make people a little uncomfortable though. Their size can be intimidating to those who prefer their spiders be fun-sized, like Halloween candy, and their speed frightens folks trying to catch them. Their coloration is also concerning to some folks. They are usually covered with dazzling arrays of bands and spots and nifty brown “fur”. Some, like the tiger wolf spider in Figure 2, even have stripes of orange. Being a brown spider, though, means they will be confused for the brown recluse spider, a species that often conjures up dread. You can tell the difference by size—wolf spiders are usually much larger than a recluse; by color—wolf spiders are a darker brown than recluses, and by eye pattern—wolf spiders have eight eyes, recluses only have six.
Figure 1: Carolina wolf spiders are large spiders with a grey-brown coloration. They have burrows in soil that house them during the day, but they emerge to hunt at night. (Photo: Jim Kalisch, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Entomology Department)
Figure 2: Tiger wolf spiders are mostly brown but have bright orange patches and stripes down the back of their head. This female is also holding her egg case below her. Wolf spiders tend to carry their eggs till they hatch. (Photo: Jim Kalisch, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Entomology Department)
Figure 3: Pest proofing ensures that fewer things like crickets get inside, which also means fewer spiders. However if you don’t like eightlegged house guests, glue board traps are a great way to passively catch spiders that do enter. (Photo: Jim Kalisch, University of NebraskaLincoln Entomology Department)
Wolf spiders are also fairly famous for trying to enter buildings in fall. Luckily, we have very little to fear from these eight-legged predators once inside. They can bite people, but this is not very common and the sensation for most is like a bee sting. Pain may last for about 10 minutes and there might be some swelling; this can vary person to person. It’s always best to treat spiders with respect and give them their space though. Wolf spiders do not want to bite you; it is a last-ditch defense tactic for them. If you don’t want them inside, pest proofing keeps their food out and keeps the spiders from entering as well. Glue board traps, set near the wall or in corners, will also catch spiders as they move around the perimeter of rooms.
If you ever want to confirm if the spider you are seeing is a wolf spider, all you need to do is look deep in their eyes. Spider eyes are illuminating for deducing what family they belong to. Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) have two large eyes in front, with two more above them. Under the front-most large eyes will be a row of four small eyes, turned into a slight frown By Jonathan L. Larson, Extension Entomologist
Washington County Cooperative Extension Service 245 Corporate Drive Springfield KY, 40069 Office 859-336-7741 Fax 859-336-7445 Email dennis.morgeson@uky.edu
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