Presentation: Insect pests of New England

[kjc.livejournal.com]

Insect pests of New England

On Wednesday, June 9th, the Somerville Garden Club will sponsor a short course by horticulturalist Debra Elson, on the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) and other pests. The meeting is 7-9pm, 167 Holland St., second floor. The public is invited; the space is accessible.

The Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) has a well-deserved reputation for being an aggressive, voracious pest. A video, "Lurking in the Trees," about the ALB crisis in Worcester, MA, will be shown. Elson will address the importance of vigilance about this beetle, as well as steps for containing the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, Winter Moth, Eastern Tent Caterpillar, and Gypsy Moth Caterpillar.

Elson is a horticulturalist with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). She attended Green School, a comprehensive certificate program offered by UMass Amherst, and has done extensive research on insect pests of New England Forests. She has worked in nurseries and as a designer, and belongs to the Lexington Field and Garden Club and the Beth Shalom Garden Club.

Somerville Garden Club meetings begin with announcements and a roundtable of garden questions, feature an educational program, and conclude with a raffle of garden items and plants. The meetings are at 167 Holland St., 2nd floor, 7-9pm and are free & open to the public.

For more information, please visit http://www.somervillegardenclub.org

Comments

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

What happend with the Asian Longhorned Beetle? About a year ago, there were ads all over the T asking people to report any beetle sightings, but I haven't heard anything recently. I'd be very unhappy if they had to cut down all the big, old trees in Somerville and Cambridge.

http://www.uvm.edu/albeetle/infestation/albforestmap.html doesn't show any infestations northeast of NYC. Did they clear up the infestation in Worcester?

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

The infestation in Worcester County is being addressed, but it doesn't seem to me like it's "cleared up" yet, so my guess is that that map is incomplete. (My dad lives out there, and I still get my local paper, which has announcements or reports of talks from experts about identifying ALBs and dealing with sightings; the local campground there still has signs all around it saying "Bringing Your Own Wood Is Forbidden" and what-not. Here's (http://www.massnrc.org/pests/alb/) the big page with updates.)