We use cookies to make your experience better. To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more.
Articles
Latin Name: Brassica Kaber
Common Name: Wild Mustard
Other Names: Field mustard, charlock, field kale, kedlock, common mustard.
Pest Details
Origin:
Native to Eurasia, and now found throughout the United States.
Biology:
Normally a winter annual, although it will grow as a summer annual in the proper wet conditions. Reproduction is by seeds that germinate in late summer, early fall, or in the spring. Seeds may remain viable in the soil for many years, with over a thousand seeds possible from a single plant.
Identification:
Mature plants have two forms - those with hairy, prickly stems and those with smooth stems. The plants grow to as tall as 3 feet, with multiple, branching erect stems. Leaves can be 8 inches long and thickly clustered around the base. Leaves on the lower stems are deeply lobed at the base and have long petioles, while upper leaves are simple and generally without stems or petioles.
Latin Name: Raphanus Sativus
Common Name: Wild Radish
Other Names: Jointed charlock, white charlock, jointed radish, wild kale, wild turnip, cadlock, wild mustard.
Pest Details
Origin:
Native to Europe, and now widespread in North America. The garden variety of radish is a cultivated form of wild radish. R. sativus is white-flowered, while R. raphanistrum is yellow-flowered.
Biology:
These are winter or summer annual, and under the proper growing conditions may be biennials. They reproduce only from seeds, and seeds are capable of germinating in either early spring or early autumn. Those seeds that germinate in the fall produce rosettes of leaves at the ground level, and these rosettes over-winter.
Identification:
Plants begin as a rosette of large, deeply divided leaves. Mature plants can be as tall as 5 feet, and are heavily branched toward the top of the plant, off of the main stem. Leaves vary widely
Latin Name: Panicum Capillare
Common Name: Witchgrass
Other Names: Food hay, mousseline, panic grass, tickle grass, tumble panic, tumbleweed grass, witches’ hair, old witch grass, fool hay
Pest Details
Origin:
Native to the eastern United States, and now common throughout the U.S. and southern Canada.
Biology:
A bushy, shallow-rooted summer annual. A problem in crops and orchards, particularly in sandy soil, as well as in landscape and nurseries. Reproduction is by seeds, with germination in early-spring into early summer. Plants mature throughout the summer, and when the flower heads dry they become brittle and break off to blow away in the wind, giving them one of their common names.
Identification:
Mature plants are bushy, with many branches from the base, and may grow to about 2 feet in height. Stems, sheaths, and leaves all are covered with long, coarse hairs. Leaves may reach around 10 inches long and have
Latin Name: Setaria Glauca
Common Name: Yellow Foxtail
Other Names: Foxtail millet, pigeon grass, summer grass, golden foxtail, wild millet, pussy-grass, bottle grass, yellow bristlegrass
Pest Details
Origin:
Native to Eurasia, but an important weed species in cultivated areas throughout the world, including much of the United States.
Biology:
A summer annual grass weed, growing in erect clumps up to 3 feet tall. Reproduction is from seeds, and germination is from late spring through midsummer.
Identification:
Mature plants have fibrous roots, and will not root at stem nodes that rest on the ground. However, tillage of the roots will cause new growth from the base of the plant. Leaves may be 12 inches long, up to 1/2 inch wide, and have long hairs on the upper surface, only at the base area. The sheath is smooth and often reddish at the base, with a distinct midvein. Flower head forms mid to late summer as a
Latin Name: Cyperus Esculentus
Common Name: Yellow Nutsedge
Other Names: Nut-grass, yellow nut-grass, nut sedge, northern nut-grass, chufa, earth almond, rush nut, ground almond
Pest Details
Origin:
Native to the Old World, but now spread throughout the world, including all of the United States, much of Canada, and south through the tropical areas of South America. It is one of the most important weed pests in the U.S. and much of the rest of the world.
Biology:
A perennial weed that reproduces by seeds, but also commonly by tubers that form at the ends of rhizomes. Plants also can spread by these rhizomes, but each plant is capable of producing many hundreds of tubers, making it the principal form of reproduction. Foliage remains green year-round, and leaves closely resemble grasses. This is an extremely common pest of turf, and in turf its own leaves grow far more quickly than the turf blades, creating
Latin Name: Oxalis Stricta
Common Name: Yellow Woodsorrel
Other Names: Sour grass, oxalis.
Pest Details
Origin:
Native to Europe but distributed throughout the world.
Biology:
A perennial weed common in turf, landscape, crops, and nurseries. Plants spread by the underground rhizomes as well as from seeds, and seeds are thrown up to 12 feet from the parent plant by the explosive nature of the seed pods.
Identification:
Very similar superficially to Creeping woodsorrel, but plants tend to grow much higher, as tall as 10 inches due to the more upright stems. In addition, yellow woodsorrel has rhizomes while creeping woodsorrel has stolons. Leaves are clover-like, with three heart-shaped leaflets on long stalks. After sunset the leaflets tend to fold down along their stems. Flowers are yellow and may grow in small groups of up to six flowers, each on a long stalk. Flowers are very small but open wide, and have 5 petals. The
Latin Name: Dolichovespula maculata
Common Name: Baldfaced Hornet
Other Names: White-faced hornet
Pest Details
Origin:
This is a native species that is found throughout North America from southern Canada to Mexico and in all states of the U.S. It may be most common in the Southeast U.S.
Biology:
This large paper wasp is a close relative of yellowjackets, but has workers of a much larger size and color. It creates large football-shaped paper nests that hang from branches of trees, eaves, and other horizontal surfaces, and tends to restrict its nesting to outdoor areas. The workers will aggressively defend their nest and attack anyone who approaches, stinging repeatedly if necessary. While they tend to restrict their diet to other insects they have been seen scavenging on dead meat. Like other social paper wasps the colony is initiated in the spring by a fertilized queen that overwintered, starting her own nest
Latin Name: Sceliphron caementarium
Common Name: Black & Yellow Mud Dauber
Latin Family Name: Sphecidae
Other Names: Thread-waisted wasps
Pest Details
Origin:
A number of species of wasps in this family are native to North America, with the Black and Yellow Mud Dauber and the Blue Mud Dauber most often nesting on structures.
Biology:
Mud daubers are solitary wasps that provide a nest and food for their larvae but do not further care for them. The nest is created from blobs of mud gathered by the female and formed into hollow cells, often with many cells arranged next to each other in columns. The female then gathers food, in the form of insect larvae or spiders, stings it to paralyze it, and then places this immobilized prey in the cell. She lays an egg in each cell, seals the cell with mud, and never returns. While the female mud daubers can sting it is a rare occurrence. They do not defend
Latin Name: Chalybion californicum
Common Name: Blue Mud Dauber
Other Names: Blue burglar
Pest Details
Origin:
This is a native species in North America and is found throughout the U.S. and southern Canada.
Biology:
This beautiful wasp does not create a mud nest of its own, but instead locates one already made and provisioned by the Black and Yellow Mud Dauber. It uses water to soften the mud and then makes a hole to the inside, where it then removes the food cache and eggs of the previous wasp and supplies the cell with its own paralyzed spiders and eggs and once again seals it shut. This wasp specializes in gathering black widow spiders, making it exceptionally beneficial to have around homes. While the female may be “capable” of stinging it is a solitary wasp and shows very little aggressive nature, so stings of humans are exceedingly rare.
Identification:
The adult wasp is about ¾ inch long and
Latin Name: Sphecius speciosus
Common Name: Cicada Killer
Latin Family Name: Sphecidae
Other Names: Eastern Cicada Killer
Pest Details
Origin:
There are several species of these giant wasps in the United States, occurring commonly in states east of the Rocky Mountains and south into Mexico.
Biology:
This is an enormous wasp, fully 1.5 inches long. It is a solitary wasp which burrows into the soil to create a cavity or its larvae, and then provisions this cavity with a paralyzed cicada which the adult has captured and stung. The burrows can be up to 4 feet deep with several side branches and cells for a number of larvae. Piles of soil are left at the surface around the entrance hole. The fully developed larva then spends the winter in the soil, pupates in the spring and emerges as an adult wasp. The females can sting but are unlikely to do so as solitary wasps. The males can be very pugnacious and curious about intruders,