Skunks!

There is no other creature like it. It strikes fear and terror in your mind. Rarely, but memorably, may have crossed paths with one. There are two easy ways to know if the dreaded Mephitis mephitis, is in your neighborhood one, its plain but distinct black body and white stripes.  The odor permeates everything, and its powerful enough to wake you up.

The striped skunk can occupy your yard, and you may not even know it until it is too late. They live in dens that may be found in vacant buildings, under house porches, culverts, brush piles, tree stumps, or woodchuck burrows. Generally, they are nocturnal so they are not often seen during the day. The exception is during mating season. The males tend to move slowly, and stubborn to flee do to their strong defensive scent. If you come across a skunk, the animal will usually stick his tail straight, up and stomp his front feet as a warning before spraying.  They can spray ten to twenty feet so back away slowly and quietly.

Frequently skunks dig up the lawn or garden looking for grubs. The signs for skunk damage around the home are small cone shaped holes about three to four inches in diameter. While other animals such as dogs or squirrels dig too, they do not make circular holes. Treat your lawn with a grub control product if this is evident and excessive.

Fencing areas is the first step in keeping skunks out of areas prone to a den such as under decks or sheds. As these creatures are prone to digging, burying the first foot of wire mesh fence with about six inches bent away from the structure is a hindrance. Cover basement windows with mesh or plastic domes.

Food sources will attract skunks too. Keep trash cans sealed and secure. If you suspect a skunk is visiting your house, discontinue feeding your pets outside. Plus skunks are attracted to rodents. Garages, barns, and sheds are common places for them to live, as a result a rodent control program might be necessary.

Finding a skunk living around your home is not a welcome sight. They are nocturnal animals so they may have been there for years without anyone noticing. And while they cause problems for the nose and nosey pets, they can be beneficial. If a skunk is problematic, consider a professional wildlife removal expert.  For more help with skunks, contact the Penn State Master Gardener Helpline at 570-963-6842  or email LackawannMG@psu.edu and request a free publication “Striped Skunks.”

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Cooperative Extension - Lackawanna County

Bedbugs!

Reservations are made, the suitcases are packed, and so is the car. Anticipation fills the mind with thoughts of rest, relaxation, and soon-to-be made memories. Whether you are travelling far or only a tankful of gas away, you will finally enjoy the summer vacation. It seems it is over too fast. You will bring back a beach full of sand in your bathing suits, sunburns, souvenir t- shirts, and some photographs.

With the increase of travel comes the potential of another unwanted souvenir: bedbugs. They are successful hitchhikers, finding their way around in clothing, bedding, luggage, and boxes. You or your visitors can bring them into your home without knowing it.

First, if you suspect bedbugs, make certain that is what you have. There are other biting insects, and many pantry pests are confused with bedbugs. The Penn State master gardeners can help identify a possible bedbug, or there are many helpful tools on the internet. Proper identification of the pest problem is the first and only way to a solution.

If you travel this holiday season here are a few tips:
* Use luggage racks to unpack and pack, instead of placing your luggage directly on the floor.
* Check the headboard and mattresses before sleeping.
* When you are home, unpack directly into the washing machine and inspect your luggage.

If you suspect infestation in your home:
* Wash and heat-dry all bedding and clothes lying on the floor. It is better to use a plastic bag, and only once, for this laundry to prevent bedbugs from moving through the home.
* A cluttered home provides more places for bed bugs to hide and makes locating and treating them harder. If bed bugs are in your mattress, using special bed bug covers (encasements) on your mattress and box springs makes it harder for bed bugs to get to you while you sleep. Leave the encasements on for a year. Be sure to buy a product that has been tested for bed bugs and is strong enough to last for the full year without tearing.
* Don’t pass them along to others. If you throw out a mattress or furniture that has bed bugs in it, you should slash or in some way destroy it so that no one else takes it and gets bed bugs.
* Thorough vacuuming can get rid of some of your bed bugs. Carefully vacuum rugs, floors, upholstered furniture, bed frames, under beds, around bed legs, and all cracks and crevices around the room. Change the bag after each use so the bed bugs can’t escape. Place the used bag in a tightly sealed plastic bag and in an outside garbage bin.

The EPA has a helpful website with information on homeowner pest-management tools. Included on this site, http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/bedbugs/index.html,  are certain pesticides you can apply yourself. These have been tested by the agency and shown to be effective, when used according to the labeled directions. If you decide to call a professional, make sure they are licensed to apply pesticides for bedbugs. The applicator should do a thorough inspection of your home and give you a comprehensive plan to control bedbugs.  Be certain to ask for the active ingredient in the products in case of adverse reactions, especially on children, and if it is registered for use on bedbugs.  Also, inquire about precautions for pets too.

For more information on bedbugs, the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County have an information packet on them. Contact us at 570-963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu and request a free copy.

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Extension 
Lackawanna County

Viburnum

Are you looking to add a versatile and adaptable shrub to your landscape?  Viburnums are one of the largest and most versatile groups of ornamental shrubs.  They offer fragrant and showy flowers, colorful and wildlife-friendly fruit, and have architecturally appealing habits and textures that can improve any home landscape.

You can choose a deciduous type with outstanding fall color, or an evergreen which will provide distinct winter interest. Others still give early spring color.  Easily maintained, adaptable to sun or shade, viburnums are a must for the Pennsylvania landscape.  There are over thirty different kinds of viburnum that are well suited for our USDA hardiness zone.

As good of a choice as the viburnum is for your home, they are also a popular choice for the Pyrrhalta viburni, known as the viburnum leaf beetle.  They are a serious threat to the viburnum.  The most obvious sign of trouble is the leaves become skeletonized, or look like Swiss cheese. Unfortunately, the damage usually begins much earlier and less-noticeable.

From late June to early July until October, females chew tiny holes in small branches or twigs of viburnum, generally the current year's growth, but occasionally in the previous year's growth, in preparation of her laying eggs.

These eggs overwinter imbedded in the shrub.  By early to mid-May of the following spring, the eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the underside of tender, expanding foliage.   Around mid-June, mature larvae crawl to the ground, enter the soil, and pupate.  By early July, adults emerge and begin to feed on viburnum foliage.  From hatching to adulthood takes about eight to ten weeks. Damage is unrelenting and severe.

If you are looking to add a viburnum to your yard, look for the resistant kinds:

　
· V. bodnantense, dawn viburnum
· V. carlesii, Koreanspice viburnum
· V. davidii, David viburnum
· V. x juddii, Judd viburnum
· V. plicatum, doublefile viburnum
· V. plicatum var. tomentosum, doublefile viburnum
· V. rhytidophyllum, leatherleaf viburnum
· V. setigerum, tea viburnum
· V. sieboldii, Siebold viburnum
　
If you already have an established viburnum, in late winter or early spring, carefully examine young twigs for egg sites that seem to swell and lose their covers as the air temperature increases.  Prune out and destroy infested twigs before the eggs hatch.  Monitor the lower leaf surface for the presence of larvae in late spring.

Apply an insecticide labeled for use on the viburnum leaf beetle and according to label directions in the spring to manage larvae while they feed.  It's best to apply these materials when larvae are small.  When targeting adults, they may fly away or drop to the ground when disturbed by your effort to effectively treat infested plants.

For more information on choosing and care of viburnum, the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County have the free publication "Viburnum for the Pennsylvania Landscape."  Contact us at 570-963- 6842 or LackawannaMG@psu.edu for a copy.


Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Extension
Lackawanna County

What's In A Name?

The name geranium brings to mind several things: the stalwart red blooms we see everywhere from memorial plants marking a loved-ones grave to mass borders in a home landscape to a small container on a porch.  They come in different colors, scents, and sizes.  Nothing beats the versatility or stamina of the geranium.

Except for one matter: the plants we call geraniums are really pelargonium.  True geraniums look entirely different and are fairly uncommon in our area, but are usually called hardy geraniums.  “Pelargomium” come from the Greek word geranos, meaning crane, as the seed head looks like a crane bill.  The common geranium we use in our landscape can be found in various forms:

• SEED GERANIUMS - These are generally smaller plants than cutting geraniums, with small but more numerous flowers and a more self-branching growth habit.  They are often labeled as seed geraniums, and sold in small pots or packs. 
• ZONAL GERANIUMS - They are named this way because they have a dark ring midway on the leaf.  They tend to have bigger blooms ranging in size from three to six inches, and in all sorts of colors.  They tend to grow upright so are best suited for beddings and pots.  These can take the most sun and are drought tolerant.
• IVY-LEAVED - These are best for hanging baskets and window boxes, as they have a trailing habit.  They have a growth habit less upright than the other kinds of geraniums, and the leaves resemble the English ivy plant. Another distinction is they do better in part shade during the extreme heat of the summer.
• REGAL - Sometimes called Martha Washington, they come in pastel shades and the leaves have more serrated ends in comparison to the rounded ones of the other varieties.  They make excellent indoor plants in a sunny window, but usually do not perform well in the extreme heat of summer.
• SCENTED - These are specialty geraniums.  They are grown for their foliage more than the flowers. They come in lemon, peppermint, citronella, and even chocolate, among others.  Expect to pay a premium for these. 

Geraniums are among the easiest landscape plants to have.  They do best in well-drained soil and full sun.  Generally a 10-10-10 fertilizer is all that is required to promote continued blooming throughout the season.  Deadheading is important to the health of the plant as well as encouraging new blossoms.  Remove any yellow leaves or spent flowers and throw them away.  A mold called botrytis is spread through poor sanitation of your plants.  Not many insects bother the geranium, but whiteflies, aphids, and mealy bugs can attack them.  These pests can be managed easily with insecticides found at your local garden center. 

Besides the versatility and variety the geraniums offer, they also can be over-wintered for those who want a project for the off season.  Not many summer annuals can make the transition but some geraniums will.  But who really wants to think about winter when the growing season is just beginning?  For more information on growing geraniums, please contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County at 570-963-6842 or email: LackawannaMG@psu.edu and request a copy of “Geraniums.”

Steve Ward

Master Gardener Coordinator

Penn State  Extension  Lackawanna County

Hemlock

Are any of you history buffs? Even if you are not, you have a physical connection to the past via the newspaper. On June 22, 1931, the Pennsylvania Legislature adopted the eastern hemlock as our state tree:

"Whereas, The hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis Linnaeus) is still today, as it was of old, the tree most typical of the forests of Pennsylvania; and 

Whereas, The hemlock yielded to our pioneers the wood from which they wrought their cabin homes; and

Whereas, The hemlock gave its bark to found a mighty industry;  and

Whereas, The hemlock everywhere lends kindly shelter and sure haven to the wild things of forests; and

Whereas, The lighted hemlock at Christmas time dazzles the bright eyes of the child with an unguessed hope, and bears to the aged, in its leaves of evergreen, a sign and symbol of faith in immortality."

The eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), is not exclusive to our state, and it is also called Canada hemlock or hemlock spruce. It is a slow growing tree, and lives quite well in shady areas, unlike other trees. It can take 200 - 300 years for a hemlock to reach its maturity. The record height is 175 feet tall and seventy-six inches in diameter. This hemlock was used in the past in construction, and the tannin found in the bark was used to die leather goods. Today, the eastern hemlock is primarily a landscape tree. However, its main industrial use is for wood pulp, especially for newsprint. So thanks to the eastern hemlock, you can have your Sunday paper.

Just before the eastern hemlock was adopted as a state tree, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) was introduced accidently in this country in the late 1920’s. Some thirty years later the HWA was seen in the East. It is a serious threat to our state symbol. Not being a native insect, it has few predators to keep the population in check. This insect can kill a tree in as little as four years.

The easiest way to tell if your eastern hemlock has HWA is to look at the branches. If you notice small white clumps, it may be HWA. Other symptoms include the needles that turn greyish green then drop off, and limb die back from the bottom up. Once the tree is weakened from HWA, it is vulnerable to other pests and diseases.

To help reduce the spread of HWA, do not place bird feeders in hemlocks as they will use the bird to hitchhike to other eastern hemlocks. If you have an infected tree, do not fertilize it. Research has shown nitrogen fertilizers enhance the insect and doubles its reproductive rate.

The homeowner can attempt to manage the pest. The newly hatched nymphs are unprotected and exposed. Once the HWA is under those white cottony-masses, it is difficult to treat. So with timed applications of insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, the eastern hemlock can be treated. A licensed commercial applicator can use stronger pesticides to manage the insect. It is important to remember that treatment is lifelong for the tree. Continued applications must be applied. 

For more information on the hemlock woolly adelgid, contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County at 570-963-6842 or email: LackawannaMG@psu.edu  We have a free factsheet on this insect.

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State e Extension
 Lackawanna County