Horticulture Hotline 12/06/21
Bill Lamson-Scribner
The Lowcountry… It is December and there are some crazy pests out there to deal with still. Over the weekend, I saw active mole crickets, aphids, moles, army worms and geese!
The aphids were on my Milkweed (AKA Butterfly Weed). The monarch butterfly lays its eggs on this plant and when the caterpillars come out, they will devour the foliage. Since the aphids were on this plant along with some of the Monarch Butterfly’s caterpillars, the aphids get a pass this time. As late in the season as it is, they won’t even get a blast of water. Do not spray insecticides, if caterpillars are present on this plant! If aphids are still active on this plant, what other plants are they still active on.
The Milkweed foliage will come back quickly and you don’t want to kill the larva of the monarch butterfly. This plant is not a perennial; however, it reseeds itself. When it pops up elsewhere in your yard, you can either replant it where you originally had it or leave it where it popped up. You can also collect the seeds and plant them where you originally had them or give them away to friends. Some people think it is neat watching the large caterpillars chow down on the plant and others are afraid of the big caterpillars. This plant provides an important host plant of the Monarch Butterfly’s life cycle and will guarantee you will get plenty of butterflies and bees as a bonus.
Mole crickets overwinter as adults, so whenever it warms up. They are visible tunneling along the surface. Mole crickets do a lot of damage over the winter because the grass is brown and their tunneling goes unnoticed. When they tunnel, they separate the roots of the grass plant from the soil, and the grass plant dries out and dies.
In different areas of the Lowcountry, we have had several frosts. I was on James Island, and if I wouldn’t have seen the bite marks out of the leaf blade myself, I wouldn’t have believed army worms are still feeding on turf!
I was dropping off some soil test to Possum’s West and there was a group of geese in the parking lot. The nerve! Since they are a protected migratory bird, repellents (Goose Stopper), dogs or a 3D Coyote decoy (be sure to move around) is your best option.
Moles, Moles, Moles….
Measure your yard for accurate applications and read and follow product label!
