Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

National Water Quality Month

With all the flooding we’ve experienced around the country this year (and around the globe), it’s important we think about water quality. So it is a fitting reminder that August is National Water Quality Month. As native plant enthusiasts however, we already know we are doing our part to maintain water quality.

Compared to the roots of the non-native Kentucky bluegrass (far right), prairie plants and grasses have an extensive root system which helps absorb moisture and prevent erosion. See also Root of the Matter. (Graphic by Janet Wissink)

Native Plants and Water

Native plants — planted in the right place — do not require artificially provided potable water from a hose to survive. With their intense, sometimes very long, root systems native plants draw all the water they need from the soil in which they grow. These splendid root systems also serve to reduce water runoff by allowing the water to percolate deep into the soil instead of running directly to a nearby storm sewer, ditch or paved road. Some of these amazing root systems also serve to cleanse contaminants from the runoff preventing this pollution from getting into our natural waterways.

So besides providing habitat for our wildlife species, native plant enthusiasts are also providing a water quality service all year round and not just in August. Pat yourselves on the back! You deserve an atta-boy!! You deserve our thanks!!!

What to do to maintain Water Quality

See

August is National Water Quality Month

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The Weather and Purple Loosestrife Beetles

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) photo by Eliziabeth Czarapata courtesy of WDNR.

Reference Wisconsin Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) Biocontrol. The message below is from Wisconsin Wetland Invasive Plant Program Coordinator Brock Woods. It is intended for all who are rearing beetles this year, and have not yet released them.

If you are not rearing this year, please consider this as a reminder to check any past release sites soon for progress.

The Weather and PL Plants

The weather this year as been very difficult. Average temps early on brought beetles out, but the cool, cloudy conditions slowed Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) (PL) plant growth, especially in the North. Thus, your PL plants may not have been ideal size when you added your propagation stock beetles. This is especially the case if you also did not dig your roots as early as possible and/or if you got your plants where you had been putting produced beetles in past years. Plants dug late do not get the warmth and full sun typical of more upland growing sites, and plants continually fed on by adequate beetle populations will not usually grow fast or taller than about three feet. Another issue may be too few stems in any caged pot (5-6 is ideal for 6 foot stems).

Hungry Beetle Larvae

The result of all this may be your larvae consuming your PL plants’ foliage (turning the leaves brown, similar to desiccation) so fast the plants are not able to supply enough food for the larvae to complete their life cycle and become new reproductive adults. Thus, doing nothing now will greatly limit the number of new reproducing adults you will have on your release sites next spring. This will slow or even limit growth for large enough populations to control your local loosestrife!

Releasing the Beetles

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) photo by Elizabeth Czarapata courtesy of WDNR.

Remember — the ideal release timing criteria includes either seeing the first new adult beetles (tan, not dark brown) in your cage(s), or as described above, seeing very quick window-paning of all your plant leaves (loss of green foliage due to heavy larval leaf mining), or both.  Only a few new adults suggests most insects are still pupating in the pot’s soil. But they will be out soon, so it’s best to put the pots out –sans net cages. Then leave the pots for a few weeks, so all pupae can emerge in the wetland. If only a few adult beetles have emerged, it is not a good idea to just cut and move the plant tops since this will likely leaves most insects behind.

If your PL plant leaves are turning fast it means little additional food for either larvae or new adults, and they will start to die without it. Immediate action is required, especially when very hot. The best solution  is to take the pots out to PL infested wetlands ASAP, and intertwine their tops with field plant tops so the larvae or new adults (that don’t fly for a day or two after pupation) can crawl onto the new stems to feed. Touching field and potted plant tops is crucial if most beetles are still larvae in order to give them food to mature.

If transporting pots is not possible for a time, putting fresh PL cuttings into a cage will help, but cannot be done for long. As a last resort, if there is still some food and new adults are emerging and putting pots out is not possible, the cage tops can be opened to allow flying adults to escape. They will try to find more PL, but most will perish if a long distance flight is necessary.

Success

While early release is not ideal, rest assured you will get new beetles this early, and will allow a careful release. If you get them safely past the early stages of mating, egg laying, eggs and early larval development, your release will be successful. A few beetles will fall to predators without continued protection, but most will likely survive. And you can still put them wherever you need them most.

Reporting

As a reminder, please report your release locations soon after finishing. Use the mail-in form or go into SWIMS and report your releases directly.

Call us if you have questions (608-225-5858 best for Brock for now). Thank you for all your efforts!

Brock Woods
Wisconsin Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol & Wetland Invasive Plant Programs
608-266-2554

Brock Woods
Wisconsin Wetland Invasive Plant Program Coordinator
608-266-2554 (FAX: 608-267-2800)

Jeanne Scherer
(Transitioning to) PL Biocontrol Program Coordinator!
608-266-0061

Also see a PowerPoint presentation by Brock Woods at Taming a “Beautiful Killer:” Wisconsin’s Purple Loosestrife (PL) Biological Control (BC) Program.

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Bee Species Moving North

In 2017 I wrote about a research project from Germany which found Flying Insects in Decline. Now in America researchers from the University of New Hampshire have found a decline in 14 wild bee species which are important food crop pollinators across the Northeast. Thirteen of the bees were native ground nesters and one was a cavity nester. The study was conducted by Minna E Mathiasson and Sandra M Rehan.

A bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) finds Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) a welcome treat.

The study involved reviewing local New Hampshire museum records for 119 wild bee species from the past 125 years, and comparing such characteristics as habitat preferences, range, elevation, latitude and social behavior. Their findings showed fourteen of the bee species were shifting their use of habitats northward and upward (declining populations). This means more of these bees were being found in mountainous areas instead of the southern sea level areas typically populated.

“We found that wild bee species that once greatly populated more southern areas near sea level are now in decline,” said Rehan. “While up north in more mountainous areas, like the White Mountains, those same species persist which is an indicator of how climate change is affecting certain populations, especially in the Seacoast area.” (USDA – Robbin Ray)

However, the study also showed eight species to be increasing, which seems to confirm the theory that bee species are moving northward.

So from this research, it looks like along with the boreal trees we love moving farther north, our native bees will as well. And, while the hardwoods will then become more prominent so will the now more southern area native bees. See Climate Change Changes.

To compare this study to an earlier study which involved Minna E Mathiasson, see Decline of bumble bees in northeastern North America, with special focus on Bombus terricola.

 

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Climate Change Changes

This is the time of year we receive the latest reports on climate change. NOAA and NASA reports say 2018 was the fourth-hottest year on record globally.

Graph courtesy of Climate Central.

2018 was also another near-record year for America’s weather and climate disasters. So what does this mean for our native trees? A lot!

How do fir, spruce, pine, beech, oak and ash ranges change?

See the video “Ecological responses to Climate Changes.”  In essence, Profession Jack Williams tells us the boreal trees we love will move farther north, while the hardwoods will become more prominent.  This has happened before, but over a period of a thousands of years — not the faster climate change we have been experiencing since the 1960s. So whether or not plants can move fast enough to survive is the big question. Let’s hope they can….

For more info, see Climate Control’s 2018 Global Temp Review: Land & Ocean.

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