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Daniel A. Herms, Ohio State University/ Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center/Entomology |
The tremendous diversity of ornamental plants, each with its own complement of insect pests, creates a logistical challenge for planning and implementing successful pest-management programs for nurseries and landscapes. Many insects are difficult to detect and monitor, further complicating the accurate timing of pesticide applications. Variation in weather patterns from year-to-year can make calendar-based scheduling inaccurate. The use of plant phenology provides an alternative approach for predicting insect activity and timing pest-management tactics. Because the development of both plants and insects is temperature dependent, plants accurately track degree-day accumulation and insect development.
This report presents a five-year phenological sequence for 92 plant and 43 insect and mite taxa for Secrest Arboretum in Wooster, Ohio, from 1997-2001. Despite substantial variation in weather patterns during these five years, the order in which the phenological events occurred was quite consistent, with only minor deviations from year-to-year. This consistency in the pattern demonstrates that even one year of phenological data can be useful for timing pest management decisions. To facilitate phenological monitoring by landscape and nursery managers, a column is included on the phenological calendar for recording phenological observations so that the table can be copied and used as a data sheet for monitoring plant and pest development.