Page 18 - MNLGA Free State Spring 2025_WEB

IT'S TIME FOR SHARING (Continued)

4: Recently Lagerstroemia has made
the news with bark scale. Again,
this iconic tree is widely planted
and must be preserved. Control
appears to be successful with root
drenches using imidacloprid and
other systemic materials. I am not
a big fan of growing them here
due to winter die-back issues, but
with growing zones on the move,
we may reconsider.
5: Spotted Lantern Fly (SLF). I am
aware of one nursery that went
out of business claiming SLF as
Cornus florida Anthracnose disease the reason. We anxiously awaited
it’s arrival at Waverly. We found a
couple dozen in 2023 and were
inundated in 2024. For weeks, we
sent out scouts to find populations
on our plants. When we found
them, we sprayed the next day
and scouted again 7 days later.
Some weeks we had two large
sprayers working every day when
the absence of wind allowed.
The spray program started on
September 19 and ended on
November 2. 100% control occurred
within 12 hours but then they
would return from uncontrolled
USDA Forest Service Bugwood.org populations in the surrounding
woods. I felt we were aggressive,
and the program paid off. Our
staff is highly trained to identify
pest problems of all types, basically
an IPM crew of 22 working daily
all year long. This spring, so far,
we found 3 plants with SLF egg
masses. There will be more, but it
will be very manageable. I expect
we will be back to managing SLF
again this fall, but most reports
|are that the SLF population will
decline each year as predators
enjoy the feast.

Lagerstroemia Bark Scale, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service

18 SPRING 2025 • Free State News