gss26: Week 6 Assignment

1. Try putting sticky cards in a different location. Do you get the same or different insects.

2. Check the plants in your greenhouse for any new indications of disease as the weather changes and new plants come in.

3. Have you talked to the grower at the greenhouse you are scouting? List the information you would give them if you were writing a report to them, based on what you have seen in your scouting.

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Re: Week 6 Assignment

de Joseph Moreno - jueves, 26 febrero 2026, 9:24

This assignment is perfect timing because on Monday I was scouting one of our houses and found a huge outbreak of aphids on a crop of hollyhocks. I immediately put out a sticky card to see if I can catch some and ID them. I checked the next day and saw no aphids on the card but they were all over the crop under the leaves (see photo). I did catch a few fungus gnats thought. I'm hoping to check back in a couple days to see if it caught any. I'm interested to see what else shows up in this other location. It seems like last week when we had that high of 72 degrees it may have created some favorable conditions for these aphids to get very active. An interesting point that I mentioned to the head grower is that the other crop in that house is asclepias tuberosa, one of our crops that is notorious for dealing with bad aphid pressure. I wondered if they may have over wintered in the containers of the asclepias and then infected the hollyhocks when conditions were favorable. I haven't Identified this aphid yet but I don't think it's milkweed aphid. For this find I entered it into my scouting record and messaged the head grower to inform him. He wanted to know if I had seen any anywhere else because he found some on another house on a crop of hypericum. I did end up finding some on a crop of aster divaricatus.

Re: Week 6 Assignment

de Elise Schillo-Lobdell - jueves, 26 febrero 2026, 1:04

Hi Joseph, I think I’m seeing a dark green stripe down the length of these aphids which means they are likely to be potato aphids. This one is very active and like foxglove aphids it readily drops off the plant when it’s disturbed. Aphidius ervi will go after these.

Re: Week 6 Assignment

de Elise Schillo-Lobdell - jueves, 26 febrero 2026, 1:11

The bright school bus yellow/orange aphid often seen on milkweeds is Oleander aphid - many people call it milkweed aphid because that’s where they see it but I believe there is actually a different, small dark aphid, that is called milkweed aphid. Anyways, this is not Oleander aphid, but if you think your milkweeds may have overwintered some Oleander aphids then (also) keep an eye on your Hoyas and Mandavillias, as well as Oleanders, because they will go to those - as I’ve learned from overwintering some milkweeds :~{

Re: Week 6 Assignment

de John Sanderson - jueves, 26 febrero 2026, 4:10

Joseph, I can't see clearly enough to be sure, but I think these are either green peach aphid or potato aphid (as Elise has suggested). But there are no winged aphids in this photo, so I wouldn't expect to see any aphids on a sticky trap. As for aphids and temperature, aphids are unusual in that their populations can develop just fine under cool (55-60F) temperatures, though a day or two of 72F would be excellent for them. Milkweed aphid and Oleander aphid are different common names for the same species, Aphis nerii. They are both schoolbus yellow with black cornicles. The other aphid that is common on greenhouse crops and has black cornicles is Aphis gossypii, the melon or cotton aphid. The bodies of melon aphids can be lime green to almost black but always with black cornicles. Notice that both of these species have black cornicles and are both in the same genus, Aphis.

Re: Week 6 Assignment

de Tiffany Donaldson - jueves, 26 febrero 2026, 3:48

1.Last week, I added a few more sticky cards to my propagation house. I did not notice any new insects, however, there were significantly more fungus gnats on the pots that house geraniums compared to the coleus plants. This week I added 2 more sticky cards to a spider plant and an additional geranium to see if something similar will happen next week.

2. I am unsure if it is due to the warmer weather we have been having or the longer day lengths, but I am slowly discovering that my plants are needing more water. More geraniums at Allegany State Park are showing the leaf purpling that I found last week. Next watering, I am planning on giving all the geraniums some fertilizer.

3. Since I am the head grower, I will list some information I would like an employee to give me if I gave them the task of scouting.

I would like to see the date, location, plant species, pest presence/density, and plant health on a weekly basis. If any corrective action was taken (for instance watering a plant that looks wilted) that should be documented as well. If new pests were found or if it seems like pest pressure is increasing, I would like to know immediately.

At the end of the season, it would be helpful to see a graph of what pests were located during the different times of the season. Markers on the graph showing when different treatment methods took place would also be helpful. This could show which methods of control were effective or not. This helps to make informed decisions for the following growing season.

Also, this week while scouting I almost missed these 4 fungus gnats that landed on the black corner of one of the sticky cards!