100 More Species #44: Whitefly

Whitefly Family Aleyrodidae

While pulling some old, diseased-looking greater celandine, Alexis found herself suddenly in the midst of a mid-summer snowstorm. The flakes were made of miniscule white insects, little creatures that looked like gypsy moths reduced to the size of grains of salt. These micro-moths turn out to be whiteflies--not moths nor flies, but bugs in the same group as aphids and scale insects. The whole group are disliked by gardeners, as they all usually occur in large numbers and drain the fluids from plants, weakening them. Some whiteflies are hated greenhouse pests, and many are known plant disease vectors. We are trying to decide whether or not to cull our celandine next year--will there be fewer whiteflies if they have less celandine to eat, or will they simply move over onto more valuable plants?

Are you pro or con crastination?

Currently experiencing the worst bout of procrastination / writer's block I've had in years. You will notice I am posting lots of things today, that is to avoid writing and recording my podcast, which is already 3 days late. Assisting in my efforts to procrastinate is the joyous fact that

WE ARE APPROVED TO HAVE CHICKENS!

So I spent much of last weekend teaching myself how to use a miter saw and using it to cut lots of thirty degree angles on lots of pieces of wood, and (with Alexis kind and necessary assistance) assembling them all into a chicken tractor. The plans seem to have omitted 6 crucial boards which I will pick up today and strap to the roof of my car, and depending how hardcore my procrastinatory industriousness is, assemble them into the sides of the tractor.

Anyway. Enjoy today's spamming or not, and hey, do you know where we could get 4 or fewer laying hens?

100 More Species #45: tar spot; #46: Norway maple

Tar spot fungus Rhytisma acerinum grows on a Norway maple Acer platanoides leaf.

Forgive me for not presenting a picture of Norway maple in full. Any wide angle photo of my yard is likely to feature them, and you can click the Norway maple link to see dozens of photos of this common naturalized alien. Norway maple is an attractive shade tree well suited to the city and suburbs. It is also a pernicious invasive species, threatening to invade our forests and transform them into barren monocultures. I have cut down all the Norways small enough to yield to hand tools, but several large specimens still dominate the property. The small ones cut down in spring have sprouted fully viable shoots of leaves, and if I didn't continually strip them they would come right back to be giant trees.

Another risk presented by Norway maples is its susceptibility to tar spot, a parasitic fungus that affects only maple trees. It causes no great harm, but can ruin the appearance of foliage (a major part of the New England tourist industry) and potentially weaken vulnerable trees. Norways are so common and so frequently infected, that they must be spreading this fungus to native trees; no alarm has been called, to my knowledge, but we shall see what the next few years brings us.

Urban mushrooms

These pictures were taken while I was doing some work in the "Hooves and Horns" section of the zoo. Here I'm looking through the perimeter fence at the intersection of Blue Hill Ave and Seaver Street. The big log has some chicken mushrooms (Laetiporus) growing from it.


These attractive little LBMs caught my eye. At first I thought they might be Mycena but that genus always produces white spores, and the dark undersides of these suggests dark spores.


I dug around them to see what they were growing from, and discovered they had surprisingly long stems.

3:00 snapshot #1032

A look across the side yard in early August. The trees are Norway maple, the growth on the fence is Concord grapes, butterfly bushes to the right. Poke and sunflowers growing on the retaining wall.