Thursday, July 28, 2016

Additional traps have just gone up...





I was back in Tennessee this week installing additional traps for walnut twig beetle.  Our funnel traps haven't yielded any beetles thus far this summer, so we are baiting fresh walnut bolts with lures in hopes of enticing the critters.  Along with lures, we attached sticky cards on each bolt so we can get an idea of just what insects we are attracting.

A black walnut bolt loaded up with walnut twig beetle lures and a sticky card.
 
We are throwing everything we can in suspect trees, hoping to pick up on some walnut twig beetle activity.  Last summer, we observed a real spike in beetle activity during the month of August.  We are hoping to see the same this year, if not, then we will be re-thinking our planned experiments for September and October.

One of the black walnut plantations we are working in outside of Knoxville, TN.




Monday, July 18, 2016

What's cooking this month?

Black walnut branch sections will be dipped in wax to seal in moisture.

Our lab inventory often reads like a list for a camping trip... saw, stove, propane, pot, spoon, etc.  But recently what we have been cooking in the field are small vats of paraffin wax.  We are preparing for another experiment involving the, now elusive, walnut twig beetle.  After several experiments, we have figured out that the beetles find it hard to resist a fresh, baited black walnut "bolt".  These 1-foot long branch sections, which we refer to as "bolts", come from a hazard tree that was just removed from our Bent Creek property.  Waxing the ends of these bolts assures us the most fresh sample possible. 

 Cooperators at a field site in TN hoisting a funnel trap in to a tree canopy.

Early in the month of June I was at a federal property in Tennessee setting up Lindgren funnel traps.  Yep, that small black and white thing making its way into the tree-top.  Bud and I (along with another cooperator) also deployed several sets of large, fresh bolts (3-ft sections) into about a dozen trees in and around Knoxville.  The beetles have been hard to find this year, which is good news for black walnut trees and landowners who have been affected by recent infestations, but makes running field experiments difficult.  We are hoping to pick up some activity soon for experiments we would like to initiate in September.

We will keep you posted.