300 trees needed for research

Dr. Jason Oliver, entomologist at the TSU Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, needs multiple field sites of extra or cull trees (<4") that are planned to be dozed, that you would be willing to let his staff treat during the summer and evaluate by mechanically harvesting in February. He needs 300 trees that can be at different nurseries. Containers will not work. They want to test 2 new Japanese beetle compounds that they started testing in 2005. One of the compounds has demonstrated considerable efficacy against grubs even in August. Both of the compounds are surface band applied like Marathon/Discus. They have made the observation that Japanese beetle grub numbers are always the greatest in nursery blocks of non-host material. They think the beetles land on preferred hosts like purple plum and linden to feed, then fly off without dropping to the soil there. So, if they can locate a non-host block (like ash, oak, sycamore, dogwood and redbud) that would be optimal for this test. Hail damaged trees would be fine. He prefers trees more than 1 year in field. The Benefit to Tennessee Producers will be if these insecticides are effective with a fall application, it would mean growers could treat later, providing more time to receive more orders and better know which plants to spray; with fewer balls to dip. It would also mean, additional pesticides would be added to the Harmonization Plan, creating additional competition among chemical companies and hopefully lowering prices. Dr. Oliver also needs some borer infested nursery stock that would normally be destroyed. His crew will come and cut the sections out of the infested stems. Any type of tree, any type of borer, potted or field, any time of year. You or I can cut the 1- to 3-foot sections of the stem. Refrigerate them til delivery to Dr. Oliver. Why? Dr. Oliver has received 2 requests from Emerald Ash Borer quarantine laboratories in Michigan and Massachusetts for wood-boring insect larvae. They need the larvae for host range testing against biological control agents that are being imported into the U.S. to manage emerald ash borer. Before new biological control agents can be released in the U.S., they must be tested against a wide range of insects and against native insects that are closely related to make sure they will not cause more problems once released. The Benefit to Tennessee Producers: If a new biological control agent can be found that will be effective against emerald ash borer, it might save the U.S. ash resource. It could also re-open the Tennessee ash nursery market at some point in the future. Please respond to Mark Halcomb if you can offer Dr. Oliver some cull trees or trunks with borers, [email protected] phone 931-473-8484. Dr. Oliver informed me April 19 they had a large number of Asian ambrosia beetles (AAB) in one of their traps last Thursday (April 13, 2006). They have actually been catching small numbers of Asian ambrosia beetles for about 2 weeks now. However, last Thursday was the big catch. It is normal to catch a few AAB along for days, before the weather triggers a massive number. Spraying should be delayed til the larger number is trapped. If you think you should spray, then do so ASAP. I actually wonder if the cost of spraying is justified. I wonder if it is more economical to do nothing and accept the losses. Only stressed plants will be attacked. But which plants should be sprayed? Can’t tell which are stressed. Too expensive to spray everything. Dr. Alan Windham and I suspect the dry periods in 2005 stressed some plants enough to cause some canker pathogens to attack and show up this summer. If that is true, then the AAB may find some of them. Stressed plants are more likely to be attacked by canker, borers, or bark beetles.