Join our survey on Crapemyrtle Pest Management!
The Crapemyrtle Pest Management Working Group, in collaboration with the Southern IPM Center, is conducting a survey to identify key priorities for pest management in crapemyrtle production. We invite all those who are knowledgeable on crapemyrtle to participate in the survey. We’re seeking input from individuals with experience in crapemyrtle. Your knowledge is highly regarded, and your perspectives are of great value to us. To contribute, please click on the link below to access and complete the questionnaire. The survey will take just about ten minutes of your time. Link to consent form and online survey (or scan the QR code below): https://ncsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a3ED0i52eUBFhXM Participation is voluntary and confidential, and you can exit the survey at any point. Participating in this study isn’t an expectation nor requirement of any affiliation you have with NC State or any member of the research team. You must be 18 years of age or older,…
Influence of COVID-19 on Consumer Purchasing Decision for Gardening Products
Our CMBS economics team (authors: Dr. Pulkit Marwah, Dr. Yu Yvette Zhang, and Dr. Mengmeng Gu) presented research results on the ‘Influence of COVID-19 on Consumer Purchasing Decision for Gardening Products’ at the 2022 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting (Anaheim, CA; July 31-August 2). Here is a brief research overview! The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in numerous ways, including quality of life, and political, environmental, and economic sustainable development. The pandemic also has an impact on consumers, forcing businesses to alter their business operations and adapt to the new normal. Therefore, understanding and researching changes in consumer preferences and shopping patterns, for plants and gardening products/services, due to COVID-19 and its associated factors is critical and under the scope of this study. A monthly consumer survey about consumer demand and their preferences for gardening products was conducted using an online survey platform – Amazon’s MTurk, between…
Crapemyrtle bark scale discovered in Florida
If you reside in Florida, look out for crapemyrtle bark scale (CMBS; fig 1) next time you wander the landscape! Florida is one of the leading states in environmental horticulture plant products (Khachatryan and Hodges, 2012), and crapemyrtle is widely utilized as woody ornamentals throughout Florida (Kalaman, 2021). After avoiding CMBS for one and half decades, unfortunately, CMBS has finally found its way to Florida (Fig 2). In 2021, a Florida homeowner in Pace, Florida (Santa Rosa County) reported an unusual insect infestation on crapemyrtle, which was later confirmed as caused by CMBS via molecular analysis (Salinas, 2021; Susan E. Halbert, 2021). Back in 2018, when CMBS was not yet detected in Florida, scientists at the IFAS extension (University of Florida) predicted the potential risk of CMBS spreading to Florida as infestations were found in Alabama and Georgia (Borden et al., 2018). Historically, crape myrtle has been susceptible to a…
Dr. Mengmeng Gu New Department Head of Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Colorado State University
Effective on July 1, 2022, the project lead of the crapemyrtle bark scale team, Dr. Mengmeng Gu, has started her new role as the department head of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture in the College of Agricultural Sciences, Colorado State University. Dr. Gu will bring her experience in both horticulture and landscape design to her new leadership role, with a focus on sustainability and a career-long commitment to teaching, research, and outreach, the three pillars of the land-grant mission. For more information, please visit: https://agsci.source.colostate.edu/ornamental-horticulturalist-and-extension-specialist-tapped-as-next-department-of-horticulture-and-landscape-architecture-head/ Congratulations, Dr. Gu!
Dr. Gary Knox Receives Meadows Award
Dr. Gary Knox is the 2020 recipient of the Sidney B. Meadows Award of Merit from the International Plant Propagators’ Society (IPPS), Southern Region of North America. The Meadows award honors and recognizes outstanding individuals for their contributions to the nursery industry and to plant propagation in the Southern Region of North America. It is the highest honor bestowed upon an IPPS Southern Region member. Gary first became a member of IPPS in 1979 when he was a student at Purdue University. Dr. Knox is now with the University of Florida/IFAS as professor of environmental horticulture, Nursery Crops Extension Specialist, and director of Gardens of the Big Bend at the North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC) in Quincy. Dr. Knox is heavily involved in research and extension on nursery/landscape issues like pollinator plants, rose rosette disease, crapemyrtle bark scale, and invasive plants. On a more uplifting note, he also…
Gulf States Horticultural Expo – Crapemyrtle bark scale team
The crapemyrtle bark scale team started 2019 off with an afternoon session at GSHE in Mobile, Alabama on January 30, 2019. Attendees included landscapers, growers, regulators and other researchers. Some of the topics covered included new crapemyrtle cultivars, common pests and pathogens of crapemyrtles, management of crapemyrtle bark scale in the landscape and nursery, and alternative plant hosts of crapemyrtle bark scale. The PDFs of the presentations can be downloaded from the Presentations page.
$3.3 million grant to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Dr. Mengmeng Gu and collaborators have recently been awarded a 4-year $3.3 M grant from the USDA to tackle the crapemyrtle bark scale. The research involved collaborators all across the USA. The project will determine the population cycles of crapemyrtle bark scale, best management practices, biological control options, and even insecticide residue testing. See AgriLife Today press release for more information: http://isatexas.com/crape-myrtle-bark-scale-to-be-targeted-by-3-3-million-grant-to-texas-am-agrilife-extension/
Crapemyrtle Bark Scale Resource Website is up!
Welcome to the crapemyrtle bark scale resource website. Here we will house information on research being conducted within the USA on the biology, population cycles, plant hosts, and management strategies as we learn about it. Subscribe to our RSS feed to get updates as they come along.