-Baxter County Master Gardeners-
  • About Master Gardeners
    • National Mission Statement
    • UAEX - Univ of AR Extension Service >
      • Baxter County Extension Office
      • The UA Cooperative Extension Service
      • UAEX Master Gardener Program
    • Baxter County Gov't >
      • County Extension Council
      • County Extension Service
    • Our Structure, Rules & Guidelines >
      • 2023 Organization Chart
      • Bylaws
      • Standing Rules
      • Duties, Projects & Events
      • New Member Orientation
      • Continuing Education & Training
      • Member Status
      • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Events & Outreach
    • Calendar of Events
    • Join Us At Our Meeting
    • Radio Program
    • Annual Plant Sale
    • Spring Seminar
    • Farmers Market
    • Fair Horticulture Room
    • Public Education Booths
    • Hatchery Outdoor Adventure
    • Scholarship
  • Garden Projects
    • Fairgrounds Garden
    • Bull Shoals
    • Clysta Willett
    • Cooper Park
    • Fish Hatchery
    • Extension Office
    • Memorial Gardens
    • Library Pollinator Garden
  • Gardening Tips
    • NATIVE PLANTS
    • Seminar 2025
    • Bringing Nature into your Garden >
      • Native Plant Finder (research by Doug Tallamy, PhD)
      • Creating a Landscape With Native Plants
      • Native Drought-Tolerant Plants
      • Well-Behaved Natives
      • Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
      • Invasive Non-Natives
    • Seminar Horticulture Table
    • DIY Projects
    • Miscellaneous Gardening Projects
  • Members Only
    • Enter Your Hours
    • MG Roster
    • Forms
Ozark Green Thumb
BCMG Monthly e-Newsletter
                                                     Signup to receive
 our free monthly e-newsletter, 
   Ozark Green Thumb.  

what's wrong with this picture?

9/30/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
Look closely. Look VERY closely. 

See those "ornaments" hanging on this formerly beautiful Japanese maple?

Those ornaments or bags are 1 1/2" to 2" in length. The bags are the living quarters of a female bagworm and eggs. The bags can very well destroy this beautiful young tree and any of the juniper or evergreen bushes around it.

A bagworm, or Thyridopterex ephemeraeformis, is a white moth that lays eggs on any plant with leaves to chew. However,  it prefers to lay its eggs on the needled evergreens: juniper, arborvitae, cedars, cypress, pine, hemlock or spruce. Each bag contains one female moth who dies in the bag as soon as she lays around 500+ eggs in each bag. The eggs overwinter and hatch in May.

Control  bagworms with a one-time spray of BT (Ibacilllus thuringiensis; Dipel, Thuricide, etc.). Spraying starts in northern Arkansas the end of May/early June, and in southern Arkansas early June. The worm larvae are 1/8"-1/4" in length.

By the time the bags have formed, only hand picking the bags off the tree will work; the spray will not permeate the bags. Obviously hand-picking will not work for a larger tree; spray the larvae.

If the tree is totally browned out--all the green is consumed--the plant is doomed. It will never be a beautiful, robust plant again. The plant would need to be removed.



The Japanese maple featured in these pictures dropped every leaf. It managed to recover and grew new leaves with all the egg-filled bags yet hanging from it. 

For more about other tree issues this time of year, play the September Master Gardener Mondays ZOOM recording and hear Berni Kurz discuss bacterial, fungal, and worm diseases of Arkansas trees in "What's Happening in the Garden?". Logon to Buddy Messages for the link, enjoy the talk and help our trees  in the process!
​

Tree August 30, 2019                                                           
Picture
Tree September 30, 2019
1 Comment
Jonathan Smith
10/1/2019 10:14:10 am

It looks like the dates may have been switched. Bag worms are a big problem.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

Picture
​Have a garden question or comment?...
Email us

​Check out our Facebook page

​Website trouble?... 
Email the webmaster
Photo from NatalieMaynor
  • About Master Gardeners
    • National Mission Statement
    • UAEX - Univ of AR Extension Service >
      • Baxter County Extension Office
      • The UA Cooperative Extension Service
      • UAEX Master Gardener Program
    • Baxter County Gov't >
      • County Extension Council
      • County Extension Service
    • Our Structure, Rules & Guidelines >
      • 2023 Organization Chart
      • Bylaws
      • Standing Rules
      • Duties, Projects & Events
      • New Member Orientation
      • Continuing Education & Training
      • Member Status
      • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Events & Outreach
    • Calendar of Events
    • Join Us At Our Meeting
    • Radio Program
    • Annual Plant Sale
    • Spring Seminar
    • Farmers Market
    • Fair Horticulture Room
    • Public Education Booths
    • Hatchery Outdoor Adventure
    • Scholarship
  • Garden Projects
    • Fairgrounds Garden
    • Bull Shoals
    • Clysta Willett
    • Cooper Park
    • Fish Hatchery
    • Extension Office
    • Memorial Gardens
    • Library Pollinator Garden
  • Gardening Tips
    • NATIVE PLANTS
    • Seminar 2025
    • Bringing Nature into your Garden >
      • Native Plant Finder (research by Doug Tallamy, PhD)
      • Creating a Landscape With Native Plants
      • Native Drought-Tolerant Plants
      • Well-Behaved Natives
      • Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
      • Invasive Non-Natives
    • Seminar Horticulture Table
    • DIY Projects
    • Miscellaneous Gardening Projects
  • Members Only
    • Enter Your Hours
    • MG Roster
    • Forms