Emerald ash borer quarantine specifics addressed

Recently, the Kentucky Office of the State Entomologist, in consultation with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, issued a quarantine for 20 counties due to the emerald ash borer. Since the quarantine was issued, questions have arisen about the emerald ash borer, including controlling its spread and effects on ash trees.

The emerald ash borer attacks ash trees. Within several years, it can kill a tree. Thus far, the emerald ash borer has been collected at sites in seven Kentucky counties: Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine...
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Emerald ash borer confirmed at two locations in Kentucky

Officials with the Office of the State Entomologist in the University of Kentucky Entomology Department today announced two confirmed occurrences in Kentucky of emerald ash borer, an invasive insect pest of ash trees. These are the first findings of this destructive insect in the state. The discoveries resulted from Kentucky Division of Forestry and University of Kentucky officials investigating reports of dying...
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Emerald ash borer traps being installed across Kentucky

Those who live or plan to travel close to the Ohio River this summer likely will see purple prisms hanging from ash trees.  These prisms are traps for emerald ash borer.

The emerald ash borer is a small, dark green metallic beetle that attacks all species of ash trees.  Adult borers feed on a tree's leaves. The larvae burrow into the tree to feed on the bark, destroying the tree's ability to transport water and nutrients to its canopy. This can cause loss of the entire canopy within a year or two.

The borer was discovered in Michigan in 2002...
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Eastern tent caterpillar egg hatch underway, numbers trending up

Experts report that eastern tent caterpillars have begun hatching in central Kentucky and that their population numbers are trending up.

"Populations of the eastern tent caterpillar have increased noticeably over the past three years," said Lee Townsend, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture entomologist. "While...
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UK student's research published by National Academy of Sciences

Each year, Kentucky grape growers struggle to control two important insect pests, the green June beetle and the Japanese beetle. In a recent study, Derrick Hammons, a University of Kentucky doctoral student, showed that even minor feeding by Japanese beetles greatly increases the likelihood that green June beetles will wreak havoc on clusters of ripening grapes.

A paper summarizing...
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Fulcher wins regional award for IPM leadership

University of Kentucky Extension Associate Amy Fulcher has earned a regional award for her leadership in integrated pest management.

On February 13, she received the Friends of IPM "Future Leader" Award from the Southern Region IPM Center. The award presentation took place during the Annual Southern Nursery Association Research Conference and Trade Show in Atlanta, Georgia.

From the beginning of her career, Fulcher has initiated and delivered IPM programs that generated results. As a County Extension Agent for Horticulture in Hopkins County...
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Hemlock woolly adelgid spreads further west

The hemlock woolly adelgid has moved farther west and recently was found on trees at Natural Bridge State Park in Powell County and the Big South Fork in McCreary County. University of Kentucky Entomology Professor Lynne Rieske-Kinney is working to monitor, study and control the spread of the insect that can devastate Eastern hemlock trees.

"We are trying to learn to manage the hemlock woolly adelgid to preserve the Eastern hemlock because without intervention, this insect could certainly cause the loss of that tree species in Kentucky's forests," she...
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