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This comprehensive bed bug educational video discusses history of bed bugs, bed bug biology, monitoring and inspecting methods, how to prepare and conduct bed bug treatments.
Honey bees exposed to agrochemicals used on farms may develop learning impairments that prevent them from being able to forage or even find their way back to the hive, say researchers at Penn State’s College of Ag Sciences.
Michael Flinchbaugh has found brown marmorated stink bugs in the orchard at Flinchbaugh's Orchard & Farm Market in Hellam Township this summer. "I think the population is starting to increase a little bit now," said Flinchbaugh, a co-owner of the farm.
Dan Harner’s family has owned Harner Farm since 1945. This year’s apple crop is the worst he has ever seen. An unseasonably warm spring caused apple trees to bloom three weeks early. Then a late-March frost zapped many of the blossoms, said Rich Marini, a Penn State professor and head of the university’s horticulture department.
While a drought watch persists in 15 counties in Western Pennsylvania, other parts of the country continue to wither from heat and drought. The Department of Agriculture has designated just over half of all counties in the country as disaster areas this year, mainly due to drought, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the White House.
Researchers believe they have identified where brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) gathers in natural landscapes during winter, and their findings could help farmers manage this invasive insect.
The Philadelphia School and Community IPM Partnership (PSCIP) is a collaborative project designed to radically reform pest management in underserved neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia by reducing both pest infestations and also the use of toxic pesticides. In this issue: Reducing Pest Problems in Latino Communities; Uninvited Guests: Raccoons; Read the Label First; PSCIP offers Healthy Homes, Other Training; Reducing Asthma Disparities.
This year's drought has had varying effects on crops in different parts of the state, according to a crop specialist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. Greg Roth, professor of agronomy and extension grain crops specialist, said that the drought is serious, but not yet the worst farmers have seen, and there is still hope for this year's crop.
In this video clip, Maryann Frazier talks about the decline of pollinators and the prime suspects behind it. Some of these suspects include the use of pesticides, on both small and large scales, that destroy food sources for bees; agribusiness practices such as monocropping, in which the same single crop is planted year after year, eliminating the plant diversity pollinators need; stress caused by transporting the bees across country for commercial pollination needs; and threats such as nosema disease, viruses and mites.
Midstate crops from sweet corn to soybeans are recovering from the first round of attacks by a tiny worm with a big appetite. An infestation of armyworms, 1½-inch-long critters that move across fields in army-like fashion, has devoured crops and left devastation in its wake.
A new study brings bad news for people fighting bedbug infestations and companies that sell over-the-counter insecticides. Ohio State University entomologists Susan Jones and Joshua Bryant found that “bug bombs” and “foggers” — cheap, insecticide-spraying aerosols that have been marketed for decades as do-it-yourself alternatives to exterminators — were ineffective against even the most vulnerable of bedbugs.
PA IPM's Ed Rajotte shares a chuckle with S. Mohankumar at a symposium on "Research and Management of Insect-Transmitted Virus Diseases" at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University on the first day of the 4-day meeting. The gathering is bringing together scientists from developing countries around the world to look at ways to address the challenges that virus diseases present for global food security.
One of the toughest parts of growing grapes is getting the climate right. An early frost, the crop could be damaged. Too much rain, the grape sugars are diluted.
Beginner and experienced beekeepers and those thinking about taking up backyard beekeeping can get the information they need to be successful from Beekeeping 101, a new online beekeeping course offered by Penn State Extension.
The PA IPM News Summer 2012 edition is now available as a downloadable PDF file from Web site at http://extension.psu.edu/ipm/news/newsletters/summer/summer-2012/view
A mosquito sample from Potter Township has tested positive for the West Nile virus. It is the fourth positive mosquito sample found so far this year in Centre County. The others were found in Snow Shoe Township and Benner Township in May and Gregg Township on June 20.
Mosquito samples collected by Penn State Extension staff on June 20 in New Salem and June 21 in Dover Township have tested positive for West Nile virus by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. For 2012, six mosquito collections have tested positive for West Nile Virus in York County.
With all the rain we have been experiencing, there is the distinct possibility that you could see late blight on your tomatoes and potatoes. There has been late blight already reported and confirmed in Pennsylvania on tomatoes and potatoes.
What's bugging entomologists as summer begins? Stink bugs, but not in the way you would think. Tim Nagy, 45, of South Fayette, was "dive-bombed" by stink bugs all over his home last year -- so bad that his dog began eating them for fun. This year, however, he has hardly seen any.
Remember the luxury of not having to shovel snow this past winter? And being able to don shorts in 79–degree warmth in March? Well the chickens might be coming home to roost. A pair of weather–related pests — armyworms and late–blight disease — have broken out in Lancaster County threatening this year's yield of tomatoes sweet corn and other crops grown by both farmers and backyard gardeners.
