Spring means...crawlers

This is the time of year when the progrediens generation of hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) is out in full force crawling out of their white, woolly ovisacs and looking for a place to settle at the base of a nice green hemlock needle.

HWA crawlers on a hemlock twig, photo taken through a hand lens. 

 Can you see them?  They are all lined up trying to find a place to settle in and feed. 

HWA ovisacs and crawlers on hemlock twig, photo taken through a hand lens.

You can see the sheer numbers of HWA our hemlock trees have to deal with.  We are out this week setting up another round of experiments with silver flies,  an adelgid predator that has shown some promise.  Well, we found the buffet, I hope these flies are hungry!