NCSU golf course and BASF partner to help monarch butterflies

Posted on June 26, 2017 by southernipmcenter

NC State University professor emeritus Harold Coble saw an opportunity to help the threatened monarch butterfly at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course. As a consultant for BASF, Coble knew about the project Living Acres, a BASF effort designed to promote growing milkweeds in non-agricultural areas like golf courses.

Since the Lonnie Poole was established as a sustainable golf course, Coble figured that it would be an ideal place for BASF to establish a monarch butterfly habitat. He approached the golf course management with the idea. Continue reading →

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Experts estimate future sweetgum losses

Posted on June 26, 2017 by southernipmcenter

Researchers at the University of Florida have estimated that sweetgum plantation owners could face $4.6 million in losses annually if a new pest of sweetgum from China arrives in the U.S. Read the story in Entomology Today.

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USDA scientist discovers nature-based pesticide that kills SWD

Posted on June 26, 2017 by southernipmcenter

In USDA ARS news

A scent that petunias and snapdragons release to attract pollinators may be an environmentally friendly control for pests like the spotted wing drosophila fly (SWD) and the brown marmorated stink bug.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Aijun Zhang discovered the fragrant chemical methyl benzoate, which is also a popular ingredient approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in foods, cosmetics and shampoo, can kill these insects and others. Continue reading →

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New Texas A&M AgriLife sweetclover variety – Silver River Sweetclover – paradise for pollinators

Posted on June 26, 2017 by southernipmcenter

by Adam Russell, Texas A&M AgriLife

Donning his beekeeper suit, Charles Touchstone, of Arapaho, Oklahoma, stepped a few feet inside a buzzing 90-acre field of Silver River Sweetclover planted for seed production near Taloga, Oklahoma. Some of the lacy white flowered shoots busy with bees stretched above his 6-foot frame.

Silver River Sweetclover is a new Texas A&M variety available through Turner Seed Co. in Breckenridge, and Justin Seed Co. in Justin. The variety was developed through cooperative efforts by researchers at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension centers in Overton, Beeville and Uvalde with the help of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists in College Station. Continue reading →

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