Lawn looking like a Leopard?

Did the recent frosts leave your lawn looking like this?  Many times damaged lawn is blamed on insects, but most of the time insects aren't to blame at all.

The majority of insect damage to turf seems to happen during summer months, so anything you are seeing to lawns at the moment is probably not caused by insects.

Leopard spots in the lawn right now is due to frost or light freezes.  Portions of your lawn are just in dormancy, but this wasn't evenly distributed throughout, causing a leopard spot type affect.  The common belief is that the temperature isn't uniform throughout the lawn and it cooled down unevenly - perhaps pockets or warm air were found in the live portions, maybe caused by uneven thatch.

Either way, it may look funny for a while, but eventually that lawn should go completely dormant.  Remember, as we get into the colder temperatures, let those lawns go dormant and stop watering!  They will come back in the Spring when they are ready, but it isn't healthy to try to keep the lawn green and watered all year round.

Whatever you do, now is NOT the time to treat for grubs or chinch bugs!  You'll be wasting money and time and placing unnecessary pesticides into the environment.... and you won't kill anything!

Fruit Tree Seminar

You won't want to miss out on this Fruit Tree Seminar, hosted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.  Who hasn't dreamed of having their own backyard orchard?  Learn from the best experts in the area how to grow things like bananas, peaches or blackberries.  You'll leave knowing the best varieties to purchase, how to properly prune and care for your trees (with a hands on demonstration) and what pests and diseases could ruin your tree fun.

Registration can be found at:

https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/organizationListings/11

Pre-registration is required and this class will fill up, so register early!

Bugtoberfest Annual Insect Eating Event!

Eating Insects doesn't sound appetizing?!  Get used to it!  It won't be long before insects will be a part of the menu as we continue to look for new ways to feed our ever growing population on decreasing agricultural land.

Texas A&M AgriLife is partnering with the San Antonio Botanical Gardens to again provide a nutritious, delicious, and entertaining insect tasting menu!  Take the edge off with a beer pairing from Blue Star Brewing Co!

We will have tons of youth activities and the entire family is invited to come out and join us!  You do not have to register for the tastings to participate in the youth activities.  Come play with insects, paint with soldier fly larvae, and enjoy the Giant Bugs art display around the Garden!

Register here: https://www.sabot.org/event/bugtoberfest-keynote-presentation-and-four-course-insect-tasting/

 

BUGTOBERFEST Keynote Presentation and Four-course Insect Tasting

October 19 @ 10:00 am - 12:30 pm

10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

$25 per person ($22.50 member) for keynote and tastings; $35 ($31.50 members) for keynote and tastings with drink pairing (21+ years of age with valid ID)
Families can sink their teeth into four chef demonstrated recipes featuring creepy crawlers. Local chefs will enlighten visitors about the sustainability and high protein power of insects. Menu forthcoming, but trust it will be memorable and healthy. Ticketed program features Jonathan Cammack, chief operating officer at EVO Conversion Systems and a Professor of Entomology at Texas A&M University. Dr. Cammack will talk on the modern entomophagy movement or the use of insects as food and feed. Talk begins at 10:00 a.m., tastings begin at 11:00 a.m. All ages welcome. This San Antonio Botanical Garden and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service event is part of the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival and is sponsored by San Antonio Water System.
Register for October 19

Insect Activities | 10:00 – 2:00 p.m. | Included with general admission
Join the San Antonio Botanical Garden and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service for an expedition into entomophagy, the eating of insects as food. Enjoy small bite insect-based food samples and family activities such as cricket races, maggot art, and more.

Junior Entomology Camp - Ages 4-6

Due to demand, we are now opening a second session (afternoon) for the Junior Entomology Camp for ages 4-6 years.  Same date and location, just held immediately after our morning camp from 12:30-3:30pm.

Curriculum and activities will be the same.  We will attempt to do some collecting, depending on the heat and how much the kids want to collect.  There are some shaded spots we can search, but there will be plenty of bug hunting and bug experimenting inside in the cool!

Campers will: do some light collecting, using real insect collecting nets, experiment with insects such as crickets, hold and touch live, nonvenemous insects and arthropods, and participate in various insect crafts and activities.  If your child is bug crazy - this is the camp for them!

To register click here: http://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/BexarCounty

Junior Beekeeping Camp

Do you know a young wanna be beekeeper?  We are offering our second annual Junior Beekeeping Camp, June 27 & 28 from 9am-1pm and spots are still open!

This is an incredibly unique camp with an experience very few people get the chance to enjoy!  We will be learning about beekeeping, putting on real beekeeper suits, opening real bee hives, and learning about the goings on inside the hive.  Campers will also extract honey from the hives and take home their own jar of honey.

Because we will be inside real bee hives (and bees sting!), we do require campers who are mature and well behaved.  They should not be allergic to bees or honey or have a fear of bees.  Ages 10 and up only!

Register at http://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/BexarCounty

20 Bugs Every Gardener Should Know - City of Cibolo Garden Program

Getting your garden and landscape ready for spring?  Join me at the City of Cibolo City Hall to learn the top 20 insect you’re likely to see in your yard this season!  Nonresidents and residents of Cibolo welcome!  Free program, please RSVP by emailing gdeltoro@cibolotx.org

Hope to see you there!

Emerald Ash Borer Webinar

2019 All Bugs Good and Bad Webinar!!

Friday, March 1

2:00 pm EST (1:00 pm Central)

To Join: https://auburn.zoom.us/j/615766171. 
Or join the viewing party @ Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Office, 3355 Cherry Ridge, Suite 208.  San Antonio, TX 78230.  Please RSVP to Molly at mekeck@ag.tamu.edu

The Emerald Ash Borer  is responsible for millions of dead ash trees in North America causing homeowners, cities, and nurseries many millions of dollars and heartache. Recently this pest has been found in two counties in Texas and will presumably spread by humans.  This invasive pest attacks healthy and stress ash trees and may cause the extinction of some native ash species.  With Emerald Ash Borer found now in Tarrant County, early detection and understanding your management options is key!

Come learn where this exotic pest came from, its life cycle, and management plans being implemented.   This webinar is presented by Lynne Womack, Georgia Forestry Commission. 

Note: on March 1,  the link to the live webinar opens about 15 minutes before the webinar. If you try to log in earlier, you will get an error message. 

For more webinars in this series, see 2019 All Bugs Good and Bad Webinar Series:  https://articles.extension.org/pages/74786/2019-all-bugs-good-and-bad-webinar-series

Webinars are brought to you by the following: eXtension Communities of Practice: Ant Pests, and Urban IPM; and by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Clemson Cooperative Extension and University of Georgia Extension.

Emerald Ash Borer Damage

Webinar Series - All Bugs Good and Bad 2019

The 2019 All Bugs Good and Bad Webinar Series is BACK!  Please join us for this webinar series for information you can use about good and bad insects.  We used your feedback to bring topics that you suggested.  We will discuss troublesome insects such as fire ants and landscape pests as well as other animals like arachnids and bats! 

Webinars are held the first Friday of each month at 1 p.m. Central.  Click on the link below for the entire schedule and how to attend!

https://articles.extension.org/pages/74786/2019-all-bugs-good-and-bad-webinar-series

You definitely won't want to miss next month's webinar on the Emerald Ash Borer!  Especially since it has now been found in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area and will certainly, eventually spread by humans to our area.

March 1, 2019 - Emerald Ash Borer, Lynne Womack

April 5, 2019 - Snakes!  Identification and Environmental Importance

May 3, 2019 - Ins and Outs of Termite Treatments

June 7, 2019 - Batty for Bats!

August 2, 2019 - GMOs and Their Effect on Insect Populations

September 6, 2019 - Ouch!  Red Imported Fire Ants in the Landscape

October 4, 2019 - Scale Insects on Ornamental Plants

November 2, 2019 - Spiders Commonly Found in Houses

December 6, 2019 - Reintroduction of Red-cockaded Woodpecker