Just a Hop, Skip and a Jump Away

The coqui (Eleutherodactylus coqui), a tiny tree frog native to Puerto Rico, continues its spread through the islands of Hawaii. According to this article from the Honolulu Advertiser, their spread is being aided by the nursery industry, which is accidentally transporting the frogs in shipments of plants like bromeliads and palms. The frogs hide in the soil and under leaves, and are difficult to find. The search for an effective control continues: application of caffeine, while quick, was determined to be too expensive and potentially dangerous to other organisms. Hawaiians are now considering citric acid, but the acid also damages many plants.

Predicting the future in the Northwest U.S.

A risk assessment for invasive plants in Idaho and Montana was recently published online. Using geographical and biological characteristics for over 500 species, the authors categorized 29 recently introduced plants (prior to 1950) as noxious weeds. Interestingly, less than half of these plants were on any noxious weed list from the Pacific Northwest. If you want to go directly to the list of noxious plant species, click here.

News Flash!

This just in: "Some ornamental plants become exotic plants in the wild."...Okay, I'm being a bit sarcastic there. This is actually a link to a decent article from the Visalia Times-Delta in California. It's always great to see a piece warning gardeners about invasive plants, in this case made even better since it's written by Jeanne Rose, a Master Gardener.

The Age of Invasion

Entomologists have seen a sharp rise in the number of exotic pests entering Southern California over the past few years, according to this report from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Things have gotten so bad that a new pest is now discovered every 60 days (on average). While many of these are discovered through the usual routes, including airports and harbors, researchers also rely on information from gardeners in the area who find suspect organisms on their plants.

The Emerald City....of Michigan

Though the federal quarantine on trees infested with the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is being delayed until February, Michigan officials are stepping forward to put into place their own eradication program. According to this article from The Detroit News, five zones will be created that encircle the core of infestation, with less severe treatments for the outermost zones. As the trees in the center of the zones die, they will be replaced with other species that are not susceptible to this devastating insect.

The Maine Event

WMTW News is reporting that Maine officials confirmed that they have found Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) in Pickerel Pond, in the town of Limerick. This is the first occurrence of this aggressive invader in Maine. You can read the official report from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection here. They already seem resigned to the fact that their goal must be to keep the species under control, not eradicate it.

A Little Swamped

Hard finding time to update the blog this week, as I am defending my thesis Friday. So here's a neat tile you can use as your computer's desktop background, designed from a European water chestnut (Trapa natans) fruit, that I made for my Powerpoint presentation:

Feel free to save this image to your hard drive. Here's a straight link to it if you're not an image downloading pro.