The Emerald Ash Borer has been in the news recently because it was just spotted in Kentucky earlier this year. This exotic insect pest, thought to have originally arrived in North America in wood aboard ships coming from Asia into Great Lakes ports, was discovered in Michigan about 2002, and has been spreading into other states since then; one of the major means of dissemination is thought to be cut firewood. Homeowners have been advised to keep an eye on their ash trees for signs of an infestation, and not to plant new ash trees in light of this insect threat. But do you know how to identify an ash tree? Community members have been putting green ribbons on them, so if you see a tree marked that way, take a closer look. UK College of Agriculture Entomology professor Dr. Michael Potter also suggested that it might be helpful to put up some illustrations:
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Ash trees have compound leaves, which means that individual leaflets are grouped onto stalks. They forma leaf unit made up of smaller leaves, which is then attached to the branch. On a mature ash tree, the bark has ridges that seem to interlace in a diamond-shaped pattern, but on younger trees, the bark is smooth.Â
To go to a CSI style investigation of the Emerald Ash Borer, CLICK HERE.
Want to learn more about the Emerald Ash Borer in Kentucky? CLICK HERE.
Kentucky was surrounded to the west, north and east by states already affected by the Emerald Ash Borer, an exotic insect pest which is can be unwittingly transported in firewood.  Now, just this week, the first two occurances in Kentucky have been confirmed in Shelby and Jessamine counties; click HERE for a report from officials with the Office of the State Entomologist at University of Kentucky  College of Agriculture.  Â
 This insect’s larvae feed on wood below the ash trees’ bark, destroying the route that water and nutrients take through the tree. Thought to have been brought to the U.S. in wood used in the shipping industry, the Emerald Ash Borer, so called because the beetles are a shiny green color, has spread south from Michigan since 2002. Take a look at the informative Web page by clicking HERE.
Happy 200th birthday, Charles Darwin!          Happy 200th birthday, Charles Darwin! British naturalist, voyager on the HMS Beagle, and author of many books including the Origin of Species, Darwin was ahead of his time with scientific theories, penning thoughts that reached to the far distant past as well as keen observations of the world around him.
Take the example of this amazing white orchid which can be found in Madasgar. It is called Angraecum sesquipedale, or the Comet Orchid. In Latin, sesquipedale means one and a half feet, the amazing length of the nectar spur that was the subject of one of Darwin’s theories. In his study of orchid cross-fertilization during the mid-1800s, Darwin noted that a moth that could pollinate it would need to have a proboscis, or nose-lie structure, that would equal the length of the nectar spur. In 1862, he wrote “ … in Madasgascar there must be moths with probosces capable of extension to a length of between ten and eleven inches!” The problem was that no one had ever seen such an insect anywhere before, and Darwin was mocked for his unusual idea.  It would have been unlikely anyone at that time would have seen a moth’s proboscis unfurl for a second in the dark of night anyway; even today with infrared cameras, it’s hard to catch.  Darwin died in 1882, but years later, in 1903, a Sphinx Moth, a type of hawk moth, was found on Madasgar. Called Xanthopan morgani subsp. praedicta, the praedicta recognized Darwin’s prediction that it indeed existed. Â
INto orchids? Check out the new review of Moth Orchids by Master Gardener Rachel Oskins.
