A Winter Wallop...

Winter Storm Jonas blazed a historic trail this past weekend dumping snow and ice all over the east coast.  It was dangerous at times and had tragic consequences.  The power went out for millions, there was coastal flooding, flights were cancelled, work and school schedules were interrupted and record snowfalls were recorded.  A Mt. Pisgah tower keeper even had to be rescued from the mountaintop.

Thankfully, in our neck of the woods, we weathered the storm peaceably with only minor inconveniences and a mild case of cabin fever to speak of.

 Bent Creek Experimental Forest accumulated approximately 1 foot of snow.  Most of that coming on Friday the 22nd.  Temperatures were mostly in the 20s and 30s.

 If this cold winter persists and we see temperatures in the single digits we can expect a 3rd consecutive year where hemlock woolly adelgid  populations are adversely affected.

 The hemlock seedlings we planted this past year will benefit from all the precipitation.

First release of L. osakensis in The Carolinas

We enjoyed another first in our fight against hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) this week.  We just released over 1200 Laricobius osakensis predator beetles at 3 sites in The Carolinas!  

 

Technicians Andy Whittier and Bryan Mudder carefully releasing L. osakensis on a hemlock in Western NC.

 Each release is carefully recorded and entered into a database for monitoring.

In recent years there has been increased interest in Laricobius nigrinus as a predator of HWA.  L. nigrinus hails from the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. and has a real knack for finding and feeding on HWA.  We had the privilege of getting our hands on Laricobius osakensis beetles that come from the same part of the world our non-native adelgid can be traced to...

...No, not that Osaka. The Osaka region of Japan.  We are hoping that L. osakensis will be a better predator of HWA than L. nigrinus because they evolved together in the same part of the world.

Our Larry O's, as I like to call them, came from the insect rearing lab at UT-Knoxville.  I was able to pick them up on Wednesday and we released them on Thursday.

 Sorting and counting L. osakensis at the rearing lab in Knoxville, TN

L. osakensis small, but mighty.

 The bossman takes his work very seriously.

L. osakensis tearing into an adelgid ovisac just before release.