Preventative:

• Warm season mites are active soon. Use Bonide’s All Seasons Oil to suppress their damage
• Begin scouting for Eastern Tent Caterpillar, whose hosts are mostly Malus (apple) and Prunus (cherry, plum).  They produce a silken web in the crotches of tree stems.  Forest Tent Caterpillar’s common host plants include oaks, maples, birches, crabapples and many more. These do not produce a noticeable silken web and feed higher up in the tree. Treat both with either a spinosad product like Monterey Garden Insect Spray or a b.t. product like Bonide’s Thuricide.
• The European pine sawfly will be active within the next couple of weeks. Look for the female, which is “wasp-like”, who lays her eggs within the needles of such host plants as mugo pine. Eggs appear as a row of blocky-shaped patches along the needles and are often found in clusters. Small infestations can be pruned away and destroyed. The larvae feed in packed groups and can also be pruned away and destroyed. Larger populations can be treated with a spinosad product like Monterey Garden Insect Spray.
• Gypsy Moth caterpillars will be or have already begun emerging from their eggs and feeding. The eggs should be hatching around the time the shadbush serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) is in bloom. Treat this insect by using either a spinosad product like Monterey Garden Insect Spray or a b.t. product like Bonide’s Thuricide.
• Fall Cankerworm should become active fairly soon.  These look similar to the winter moth caterpillar and feed on similar plant material.  Treat using the same products as winter moth and gypsy moths.

Active:

• Use either Monterey Garden Insect Spray, which is an organic product, or Bonide’s All Seasons Oil Spray to help with winter moth (fig. 1) caterpillar infestations which are already feeding on many deciduous and fruit bearing trees.
• Bonide’s All Seasons Oil can be used to help control cool season mites which are still active at this time, however as the temperatures begin to rise they will be taken over by the warm season mites.
• Bonide’s All Seasons Oil can assist in the control of Hemlock wooly adelgid.  This insect has been active all winter and will remain active until the weather begins to warm. At this stage in the weather the potential for the pest to begin laying eggs is likely, so continue to spray with oil and begin looking for a white cotton-like substance on the underside of the branches of hemlocks. If you see this substance spray with the Bonide’s All Seasons Oil to help with controlling this pest.

Figure 1

• Rose black spot occurs as dark brown to black rounded spots on leaves and canes.  Throughout the growing season repeated black spots infect the new foliage and canes during wet periods.  Eventually the leaves turn yellow and drop from the roses. Grow roses in an area where there is good air circulation and sunlight for rapid leaf drying.  Water the soil around the rose and try not to get the leaves wet, or water early in the day so the leaves can dry quickly. A Fungicide like Bonide’s Captan will help minimize the damage.
• Check your plants for brown-black branches, a sign of fire-blight.  Fire-blight affects such plants as crabapple, apple, pear, firethorn, hawthorn, and cotoneaster. Remove dead branches and dispose of them away from the plants to reduce inoculum (bacterium that causes the infection). Be sure to disinfect the pruning tools used to remove the damaged branches.  The spread of fire blight can be reduced by applying organic products which contain sulfur and copper as their active ingredients, such as Bonide Fire Blight Spray. Begin application when the tips of the buds begin to turn green to ensure proper timing.
  • Apple scab The first symptoms are water soaked lesions on leaves that turn olive green to dark gray and develop a velvety appearance. Eventually infected leaves turn yellow and drop from the tree early.  Bonide’s Infuse can help reduce the inoculum and assist in reviving the tree.
  • Dogwood anthracnose The first symptom is leaf spots which are round to blotchy and have tan centers with reddish purple margins. During wet years multiple spots on leaves combine to form irregular, tan blotches or blight entire leaves.  Bonide’s Infuse will assist in the reduction of infection for this disease.

• Inspect your lilies for scarlet lily beetle which has a bright scarlet body and black legs. The larvae resemble slugs with swollen orange, brown, yellowish or even greenish bodies and black heads. If you see the larvae you can treat with one of the following, Safer’s Bio-Neem, Bonide’s Bon-Neem or Organica’s K-Neem (toxic to bees, however if applied correctly you can avoid bee injury). The neem oil based products kill larvae and repel the adults and are most effective when applied early in the insect life cycle.
• Aphids have been active this month and can be treated with a spinosad product like Monterey Garden Insect Spray or neem oil based products which should be applied as needed due to the possibility or reinfestation.
• Use Bonide Bulb Saver to help store your bulbs properly. Once the leaves have turned from green to yellow its safe to cut them off and compost them.  Cutting the leaves before they turn yellow decreases the chance of over wintering them.
• Put up your trellis netting by Gardeneer or Ross to allow your vine vegetables to have something to grow on.
• Gardeneer produces Bird-X, which is netting to put over your fruit producing plants to prevent the birds from eating them.
• Mulch with a three inch layer of compost around blueberries. Blueberries have a shallow root system and benefit from the moisture retained by mulch.

• Apply a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen like Greenview Greenpower 2-way Weed & Feed 30-4-4 which also has an herbicide to help with suppressing broadleaf weeds like dandelions.
• A proper watering cycle is a half inch twice (2) a week and one inch once (1) a week to help with deep rooting and to give the correct amount of water needed for growth.
• Bayer’s Grub Control is a product that can be applied once a year for continuous control of grubs.
• Organic St. Gabriel Laboratories Milky Spore can also be applied for grub control it takes a few years and multiple applications to be the most effective. 
• Want free fertilizer for your lawn? Leave grass clippings behind after mowing your lawn. Clippings contain about 6% nitrogen which grass loves. Leaving them spread across your lawn can reduce fertilization rates by 50% or more.

• Once the water temperature has reached the 60’s you can add some water hyacinths to aid in the reduction of algae growth. 
• Tropical Marginal plants can be put in the pond once the likelihood of a serious frost has passed.
• Hardy marginals that were put in the bottom of the pond to over winter can be placed back onto their shelves or pedestals.  Water lilies will blossom earlier and longer if lifted to a 6-12” depth.