Florida confirms new ornamental fig pest
A gall midge new to N. America has been potentially identified as Horidiplosis ficifolii Harris. It was discovered in January on Ficus microcarpa in Naples, Fla. It was found on a bonsai F. microcarpa in a nursery and on F. microcarpa trees in the landscape. This species of gall midge was reported once in 2003 by inspectors in the Netherlands and Denmark. It was found on F. benjamina from Taiwan, Japan and China. Nothing has been published on the biology or economic importance of this species, said Gary Steck, taxonomic entomologist at Fla. Dept. of Ag. "We cannot rule out the possibility the Florida gall midges represent a different, undescribed and cryptic species of Horidiplosis," Steck said. Infested leaves are often discolored and disfigured with brown, blisterlike lesions. Heavily infested leaves may drop.
Feds release revised no-match rule
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) revised its Social Security No-Match rule last week. DHS will accept comments on the rule until April 25. The original final rule was issued Aug. 2007 and blocked by litigation. The revised rule does not create new legal obligations for businesses. It addresses issues cited by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after last year's lawsuit was filed.
Mexico relaxes LBAM quarantine requirements
Two weeks ago, Mexico and Canada implemented tough requirements on exports of propagative material from California counties quarantined for light brown apple moth (LBAM). After negotiations with USDA, Mexico agreed to loosen some of its demands. Mexico dropped the requirement for growers to conduct costly, labor-intensive trapping efforts on any ag. field inside an infested county — even if that field is miles away from an infested area. Mexico also agreed to remove Napa and Los Angeles counties from its regulated list. LBAM infestations have been eradicated in those counties.
Nursery partners with nonprofit
Parks & People Foundation, a Baltimore nonprofit, is getting in the nursery business, according to an article in The Daily Record. Forrest Keeling Nursery in Elsberry, Mo., licensed the foundation as its Mid-Atlantic retailer. Parks & People is selling 1-year liners in 3-gal. containers for $45. The foundation is selling 7 species native to the area: bald cypress, bur oak, pin oak, red bud, red maple, red oak and roughleaf dogwood. The spring sale is the 1st step to creating an urban nursery, said Jessica Walbridge, the foundation's ass't. dir. of social enterprises. The foundation is securing land for the nursery and expects it to be open by year's end. Parks & People Foundation's goal is to create and sustain "a healthy environment" in Baltimore neighborhoods.
Cornell designs 2 pesticide runoff tools
Cornell ag. engineer Andrew Landers and visiting scientist Emilio Gil, a professor of ag. engineering at Cataluña Polytechnical University in Barcelona, Spain, have designed 2 low-cost vertical patternators. Patternators are devices that quantify the accuracy of pesticide sprayers. With the information derived from patternators, growers can adjust the nozzles on their sprayers to improve the amount of pesticide deposited on the plant canopy, reducing overspray and drift. More efficient spraying also reduces the amount of pesticide needed, which lowers growers' costs as well.
Alabama lawmakers hope to ban Salvia divinorum
Alabama State Sens. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, and Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, are attempting to outlaw Salvia divinorum, a plant that some people abuse as a powerful, psychoactive herb. They say the plant should carry the same penalties as marijuana. S. divinorum is known by the nicknames Sally-D and Ska Pastora. "The plant is native to the Mexican state of Oaxaca and, like most salvias, should grow best in the full sun in reasonably dry and hot conditions," Gary J. Keever, professor at Auburn Univ.'s Dept. of Horticulture, told the Dothan Eagle newspaper. "Information indicates that the plant has been used in the past by the Mazatec Indians of Oaxaca as an aid in ritual divination."
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