Graphic from Penn State Extension. Illustrations by Colleen Witkowski. Summer season is in full swing and so are invasive spotted lanternflies, who are expanding their U.S. presence more and more each year. TruGreen, a leading national lawn care provider whose services include pest control, has announced its annual study identifying the top U.S. areas the invasive spotted lanternfly likes to call home. Squish Season is Back: TruGreen Reveals 2024 Hotspots for Spotted Lanternflies (PRNewsfoto/TruGreen) Following an in-depth examination of data compiled during the calendar year from May 202 ..read more

By Jeff Lorenz From the June 2024 Issue   As a landscape design-build entering its tenth season, we (like you) are adept at spotting trends. In the beginning, the majority of prospective clients were not driven by an interest in native plants or our company’s mission to restore functional, resilient, and beautiful habitat to neighborhoods. Whether they were attracted by our naturalistic design aesthetic or referred by a neighbor, few were approaching us with concerns about climate change or declining pollinators. By summer 2020, the world had slowed down with both public and private gr ..read more

Dark green stripes on leaves are an early symptom of beech leaf disease, or BLD. Photo: Bartlett Tree Experts Research scientists at Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories announce they have broken new ground to protect beech trees by developing novel Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies to treat Beech Leaf Disease (BLD). Dr. Andrew Loyd, plant pathologist and mycologist leading BLD study at the research arm of the F. A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company comments, “…through painstaking and tedious work, we have now been able to find two successful treatment options: a foliar application program ..read more

ALB. Photo Credit: USDA The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently announced its plans for eliminating Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) from Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina in 2024. ALB is an invasive insect that attacks and kills maple and other hardwood trees. The insect grows inside trees and feeds on the living tissues that carry nutrients. Trees cannot heal from the damage ALB causes. Currently, 278.3 square miles are under federal quarantine for ALB in the United States: 110 square miles in Worcester County, Massachusetts; 42.9 square miles in cen ..read more

By The National Garden Bureau From the April 2024 Issue   Did the horror of kudzu removal introduce you to the term “invasive plant?” Or perhaps Japanese privet and its wide-ranging spread enticed you to rethink what shrubs you specify for privacy hedge. Or maybe you’ve seen the rampant reproduction of Bradford pears, those malodorous, weak, easily damaged trees, popping up in open fields. After all you know about the horrors of invasive plants, does it lead to a certain trepidation— or at least a rabbit hole of research — when planning a landscape design? How do you balance a client’s de ..read more

Click the photo for a link to download the full Canopy Report. America’s favorite tree is the maple, followed closely by oaks. • The majority of Americans have climbed a tree (67%), half (51%) have gone leaf-peeping, and just over a third (36%) have hugged a tree. • If trees could talk, most of us would want them to sound like Morgan Freeman, though nearly one in three GenZers would prefer Leonardo DiCaprio’s voice. In honor of Arbor Day 2024, the Arbor Day Foundation just released the “The Canopy Report,” a new consumer report on how America sees trees. And while the stats above represent so ..read more

Husqvarna has introduced two of the world’s first battery-powered chainsaws with a clutch. With the power equivalent of a 40cc gas engine, the T542i XP® and 542i XP® chainsaws are “coming in clutch.” With the clutch, users experience a kick-start of energy at the beginning of every cut engagement. Users can cut up to 10% more when compared to Husqvarna’s current professional 40V battery chainsaw platform without the clutch feature ..read more

A spotted lanternfly egg mass. Today’s the first day of Spring and along with greening turfgrass, singing birds, and blooming daffodils, are the far less welcome signs of warming temperatures—the return of hungry invasive insects. In South Carolina, for instance, they are starting to see frass, a sawdust-like material, that Asian long-horned beetles (ALB) within trees will start to push out as the weather gets warmer. Then there are the spotted lanternfly (SLF) and spongy moth egg masses just waiting to hatch! What can you do? Here are some recent updates on a few key invasive insects from the ..read more

Designed to meet the needs of professionals in the outdoor trades, Milwaukee delivers the M18™ Brushless Telescoping Pole Pruning Shears. They provide fast, clean pruning and  eliminate the need for manual pulling. These new telescoping pole pruning shears enhance productivity, allowing professionals to get more done. “Following the success of our M12™ Brushless Pruning Shears, which delivered a solution for pruning in areas with tight access, we set out to deliver a solution on our M18™ battery system, meeting the needs of users who have to tackle extended reach pruning applications,” sa ..read more

Photo: Davey The Davey Tree Expert Company is proud to announce the opening of its biochar facility in East Dundee, IL, that will recycle wood waste from client properties and turn it into an environmentally friendly soil additive, biochar. “Biochar is a carbon-rich charcoal-like substance that offers many benefits to the soil,” said Jim Zwack, vice president and general manager, Davey Institute. “Incorporation of biochar into the soil can help resist soil compaction, improve infiltration and retention of water, hold nutrients, and absorb salts. It also doesn’t decompose, unlike compost, so it ..read more