Bugs in the Garden

What's Bugging You?

Besides the continued onslaught of daddy-long legs racing in our back door every time it opens, we're pretty cool on bugs right now. Speaking of daddy-long legs, you do know that it is a myth about them being "the most poisonous spider around, but can't bite you because they have small mouths"? Well, it is a myth. They're actually called "harvestmen" and although a member of the class Arachnida, they are not true spiders. They eat slow moving or dead bugs, insect eggs, earthworms, and decaying plant material. And no, they do not have venomous fangs or silk glands. Some do, however, have scent glands that secrete bad smells and tastes to help protect them from predators.

This week, Buggy Joe Boggs (OSU Extension) is reporting beech blight aphids on (yes, you guessed it) American Beech trees, hackberry gall psyllids now hatching out and invading homes (they can go right thru your screens), tons of reports of Oak galls of all sorts on leaves and stems, garden spider populations really starting to explode now, scale populations running off the scale (oystershell, magnolia, lecanium and calico), rust on Cottonwood trees, and gray leaf spot on perennial ryegrass.

-Catch The Buggy Joe Boggs Report every Saturday at 8:42am on 55KRC The Talk Station.

ashalert.osu.edu www.emeraldashborer.info

[Even if you're on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.]