Nelson County, Virginia
Traveling around Nelson County over the past few days? You have probably seen those funny purple boxes hanging up in the trees. Some people thought they were kites, others markers for a party, but nope, they are insect traps!
“That is my understanding. But they are also attractive to the state insect, the Tiger Swallowtail as well. Perhaps an alternative design might be less attractive to the butterflies but still allow a means of monitoring the spread of this exotic pest, i.e. the Emerlad Ash Borer,” says Michael Lachance an agent with the VCE-Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Nelson County Unit. The traps aren’t actually to take the insect out, but rather to obtain numbers on how many borers have actually migrated to the area.
Here’s a post on the Purdue University website, that pretty much parallels what we are seeing here.
http://www.entm.purdue.edu/news/PurpleTraps.html
Thanks Paul for grabbing a shot of one of these.
As someone with a yard full of mature ash trees, I am alarmed by this story. I had heard that the ash borers had hit NOVA a few years ago but had not proliferated much in the state since then. Where is the nearest and latest outbreak? What has prompted the placement of the traps? The post is mighty chipper, given what an ash borer infection can mean to ash forests.
One appeared in my storm damage picture this past Sunday. I wondered what it was! Thanks, Tommy!
One appeared in my storm damage picture of Ennis Mt. Road this past Sunday. I wondered what it was! Thanks, Tommy!
Sorry, in my above post, infection should read infestation.