Local Weather Forecast
Today: Current:73	Friday: 95/75	Saturday: 96/74
Complete Forecast for  Jul 24 2008

What a wonderful mild spring this has been! But often, the same kind of weather we enjoy brings on the type of conditions that can trigger disease and insect problems in the lawn, landscape and garden.

Of course, there are plant problems every year. Some we see every most year and some may be somewhat rare, unusual, or just uncommon.

GALLS: We are seeing an interesting number of galls already. Most galls we see in trees are caused by very small insects, often tiny wasps. Galls, which can take on many different shapes and colors, are triggered to form when a gall-making insect lays eggs in the leaf tissue. The plant's tissue begins to grow around the egg(s) forming the gall.

Once triggered by egg-laying, the growth cannot be stopped. The developing larva inside the gall feeds on the tissue. Each gall maker produces a distinctly shaped gall on its specific host. Therefore, they are usually named based on the host plant and shape of the gall.

Several people have asked about large, unusual growths on their red oak trees. These galls, called oak apple galls, are very conspicuous, about the size of a golf ball. The oak apple gall, which is mainly formed on red oaks, is kind of hollow, soft and full of spongy tissue, and in the center is the young developing insect inside a harder core.

Most galls are mere curiosities in the plant world, and for the most part do not interfere with or hurt the host. As mentioned, once formed, gall development cannot be stopped, and there is no control. Nature, however, provides its own control through various kinds of parasites that prey and feed upon the larvae inside the gall.

This is why you rarely see heavy gall infestations on a tree year after year. Occasionally galls can get so numerous that the leaves may drop, and a couple of types of galls are formed on stem tissue rather than on leaves. These can cause significant twig damage and dieback if in they occur in large numbers.

AZALEA GALL

One gall that is caused by a fungus rather than an insect occurs on azaleas and camellias. I haven't had any complaints this year about this common problem, but I have seen signs of it on a couple of azaleas. The azalea leaf gall fungus initially produces a grey growth on a leaf, which then causes the newly infected leaves to pucker, twist, deform and swell up. The same disease can also affect camellia leaves, creating one-quarter inch thick, almost rubbery leaves.

Azalea and camellia galls are not life threatening to the plants, just unsightly. The fungus will affect only the young, new leaves that are produced under the right environmental conditions. Simply pick off as many affected leaves as possible and discard them. Infections will stop when it gets hotter and drier.

HONEY BEES: Swarms of honey bees are a phenomena that occurs in the spring and fall each year. Swarms develop when a hive gets too full or crowded. The bees in the old hive make a new queen and she flies off with most of the younger bees of the colony to find a new place to live.

The swarm will land on something that enables them to stay huddled together while a few scout bees fly on to try to locate a suitable place to build a new hive. Quite often this will be on a tree branch.

Because a swarm is in essence a group of homeless honey bees, they have no home or babies to protect. So, they are not likely to sting anything because they do not feel defensive. Keep your distance and leave them alone. You could call also a beekeeper to safely remove the swarm.

BEES IN THE HOUSE

You should check your structures and plug openings so that bees do not feel like your house would be a good place to build a new home, sealing any holes or gaps in the walls and other structures. Keep a watch while the swarm is near to make sure the scout bees haven't located a place for the colony near where people and pets will be. Hopefully, the scout bees will keep looking elsewhere until they find a place further away that is less likely to be disturbed by people and animals. At that time, the swarm will move on.

If honey bees do begin to make their home in your house or other structure, they should be removed by an experienced beekeeper. The East Texas Beekeepers Association has members who will collect swarms or remove bees in structures under most circumstances.

The Association's contact person for removing honey bee swarms is Dick Counts, who can be reached at 903-566-6789 or 903-571-1271.

Weeds probably top the list of lawn problems at this time. Most of the well-developed, vigorously growing weeds in your lawn right now are cool season weeds. These germinated last fall and winter, and have been there waiting for warmer weather and longer days to begin growing vigorously and blooming.

If your lawn is covered with weeds now, then mark your calendar for next September to apply a pre-emergent weed preventer at that time to help reduce this problem next year. In the meantime, this growing season step up your maintenance program to develop a thicker, denser stand of turf which will also help suppress weed germination. This is done through proper fertilization, timely mowing at the right height and proper and timely watering to prevent drought stress, while avoiding overwatering.

Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service. His Web page is http://EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu.

His blog is http://tce-blogs.tamu.edu/mt/etg Texas AgriLife Extension Service educational programs are open to all individuals without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.