Nature Scoop July 2022 Baltimore Oriole by my bird bath
Several readers asked for more information about the Tree of Heaven in response to last month's issue, due to it being the host plant of the invasive Spotted Lanternfly. This tree does have some native look-a-likes. All parts of it carry a toxic chemical that can cause skin irritation. Here is a good article about how to remove and identify the Tree of Heaven.
More people are replacing lawn with gardens since the Pandemic hit. Monrovia, a major plant grower for nurseries, said that Pollinator plants are the most requested in a recent survey of their customers. Lawns aren't going away though, and one of the reasons cited in this article is that people are afraid of the bees that pollinator plants attract. Our friendly, native bees have an undeserved, bad reputation because people have difficulty identifying them from the non-native wasps and hornets that sting us. Here is an entertaining and educational Guide to Yellow Stripey Things with a fact check below. Please share it with your friends and neighbors to help them become less afraid of bees.
Flowering heads of sunflowers and sunflower-type plants (including coneflowers, cup plants, etc.) may be severed about 1" below the head. The tops fall over dead before they can flower enough to go to seed. The sunflower head-clipping weevil, less than a half-inch long, is responsible for the damage. The weevils sever and lay eggs in the head of the flower, where the adult and larvae feed. Gently cut off the top of the plant below the discoloration and throw the flower head and contaminated part of the stem in a bucket of soapy water. Scoop the plants out after dead weevils float to the top and flush the water down the toilet. Many of the head-clipping weevils are killed before they can go into the ground to over-winter. There are fewer weevils in my yard each year, but we keep an eye out because there always are a few that fly in from other places.
Good news: A sixth-grader in New York has spoken with the United Nations, on TV and on radio stations about how to stop the Insectageddon. She has created her own websites showing people how to save insects. Watch her speak and be inspired.
- Spend time enjoying your yard each day; there's always something new to see, like the Baltimore Oriole pictured above, photographed through my back window while perched by my bird bath
- Organic Lawn Care DIY: Mow lawn high (3-4 inches) to shade out weeds. Let your lawn go dormant; don't water it because it will green up again when the weather cools off
- Listen to Trees' Subtle Warnings - Page 9
- Avoid gas-powered trimmers and blowers, which give off more pollution than gas mowers; instead, use electric ones or those run by re-chargeable batteries
- Power washing runoff and our storm systems - see page 3
- If slug or snail damage is a severe problem: fill a cheap pie pan with beer and change often because slugs and snails are attracted by the smell of yeast, and beer kills them
- Contact your Public Health Department to find out if your city does mosquito fogging and, if so, ask how to opt out. These chemicals kill beneficial insects, including bees and Monarch caterpillars
- Save wildlife: Pick up litter, check your fire pit for baby wildlife and watch for animals crossing the road
- Provide shade for wildlife
- Tips to best remove ticks video
- Be careful, some caterpillars sting
- Suet you purchase at bird stores is rendered so it will not go rancid in the heat like beef fat or other hand-made suet
- Avoid skunk spray: Stomp your feet, clap your hands and turn the porch light on and off to let the skunks leave the area before taking pets out on a leash. Take a flashlight
- What Can I Do About Skunks Living in My Yard? - Save Dragonflies in Our Yards. Build a pond as described in the last section called Be a Hero - Help wildlife regarding fireworks
- Slice plant tap roots with a light-weight, ergonomic tool, specialized to keep nearby plants undisturbed and make removal permanent, with something like the Parsnip Predator - Opossums are related to kangaroos and are beneficial to our health because one eats up to 5,000 ticks per season. Opossums play dead for protection, so go around them or brake when you see one in the road. Safely stop to see if it is okay. If not, check for babies in the pouch. Call a Wildlife Rehabilitator if help is needed
- Learn how easily we can stop Light Pollution which harms wildlife - Meet the Leafcutter Bee - short educational video
- Compost without invasive worms (including European Nightcrawlers, Red Worms aka Red Wigglers and Asian Jumping Worms). Discard invasive worms (including fishing bait or compost worms that appear dead) in the trash. Rinse the root balls of new plants to get rid of invasive egg casings and avoid buying commercial mulch or compost, where their eggs can live for years - Bees are drowning while trying to drink out of bird baths and pools, so put some rocks in the bath upon which they can stand
- Watch your plants and kill Japanese Beetle scouts when they first enter your yard to keep others from following: hold a container of soapy water or alcohol below them and tap the plant stem or brush them with a craft stick (similar to a Popsicle stick; found in the craft section of stores) so the Beetles drop into the container
- Toxic, Wild Plants to Avoid
- Many orange or black and orange insects depend on the milkweed plant. Most are a part of the ecosystem and not harmful. Take the Milkweed, Monarchs and More field guide out of the library or buy it online
- Three Natural Ways to Reduce Mosquito Bites
- Turtle in the road? Safely stop your car, pick the turtle up by the shell near the hind legs and support below with other hand, take it across the road in the direction it is pointing, put it well off the road and wash your hands afterwards. Wild turtles are not pets
- Help lightning bugs (fireflies) in your yard
- Do our yards make a difference? Park lands make up a mere 3-4 percent of the continental United States. Yards (including small city yards) make up about 50 percent of our total green space
- Deadheading certain plants can change the way our gardens grow
- Deer bother some readers by eating their plants, so put deterrents in your yard before the deer come to discourage them from using your yard as a buffet. Try using motion-detectors to turn on sound, white light or a water sprinkler. Try putting a barrier around the plants you want to protect by laying chicken wire flat (not standing up) because deer don't like to get their hooves caught in it. If you want to try other methods, look for harmless ways on the Internet and be sure that sprays or other home solutions are water-resistant
- Non-native aphids on your plants? If beneficial insects are also on the plant, squeeze aphids between your fingers. If not, mix 1 tablespoon of dish soap and 1 quart of water thoroughly and pour it into a clean spray bottle. Aim carefully with newspaper behind it so as not to hit any beneficial insects on other plants. Rinse with lots of water after aphids are dead
- Asian Jumping Worms Informational PowerPoint
- Please don't release balloons into the sky. Wildlife ingests them, which is often fatal. Use wildlife friendly alternatives
- Avoid stings: Learn to ID Bees, Wasps and Hornets; Bees are fuzzy, eat pollen, have a round shape and are gentle unless provoked; wasps have a distinct narrow "waist" between the thorax and abdomen, are smooth and carnivorous. Be cautious around Yellowjacket nests above or below ground, Paper Wasp nests hanging from eaves, porch ceilings or in slats, and Hornet nests in trees. These three species defend their nests by stinging and are attracted by the smell of food. Keep all food indoors, including picnic and pet food. Keep garbage lids on tight and, if you add kitchen scraps to compost, keep it sealed in a container
- Monarchs lay more eggs on tender new leaves of milkweed, so try cutting back or mowing about a third of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)around July 4th each year
- Have caterpillars on your herbs (such as fennel, dill, parsley...)? They are probably Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars
- Sign up to be on Doug Tallamy's Homegrown National Park map (scroll down) so we can tell the number of acres with native plants. Please let them know you heard it from Nature Scoop
- Water your trees by laying a hose down near the trunk (water sprayers lose water to evaporation). Water long, slowly and deeply to soak the roots during the early morning or night. Water all trees during a drought or when soil looks dry around the roots. Water newly planted trees once or twice a week
- I had a bumblebee nest in my yard a few years ago, and we really miss them. Watch your yard for bumblebees throughout their lifecycle. Only one queen bee survives the winter. Read more about what happens next
- Use burlap bags to protect vegetables. Animals, including birds, bunnies and reptiles, can become entangled in garden netting/mesh and may become strangled
- Found injured or baby Wildlife? Find a Wildlife Rehabilitator by your address
Please send your backyard conservation educational event with a link the month prior to the registration deadline (e.g. May 1 for June issue)
- Reg now for 7/23, Annual Native Plant and Artisan Sale, native plants outdoors, inside Certified Wildlife Habitat Exhibit, Steve Inglish, Beavercreek
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