Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, everybody. Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm Ron Wilson, and you are in the garden here
on news radio six ' ten WTVN A two to
one WTVN eight hundred and six to ten WTVN talking
about yardening on this first day of February. Can you
believe that is an exciting day for me? Because first
falls first February, and that means we had a quick,
quick month here, the short month, and then we're right
(00:23):
into March, and then we're right into the spring season.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Or are we well.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I guess all of that will be known after tomorrow
and we see what Buckeye, Chuck and Punks and Tony
Phil have to say, or we may even know right
now because I have asked my good friend, and of
course he is so and you've heard him on our
show before. His website arbordoctor dot com. He is actually
(00:48):
a ISA board certified Master Arborist, registered Consulting arbist, but
he is a hobby meter urologist and he has been
doing this since he was like five years old, and
he is one of the best. And every Groundhog Day
weekend I always try to pit him against Punks Atony
Phil and Buckeye Chuck to see, uh, who's who's got
(01:11):
the best predicted prediction? So, as usual, we have him
on our show this morning to find out what what
is his prediction? Does he see a shadow or not?
Joining us this morning, my good friend Ohio State graduate again.
The website is arbordoctor dot com mister ron Rothus we
call him today it's Chevy at Ron versus Punks'tony Phil
(01:33):
versus Buckeye Chuck.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Good morning, sir, Good morning.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
If I was any better, I would be you.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Actually, I'd be punks to Tony Phil because the way
he gets treated and all of his coorse and that
they get fed so well and groomed and treated nicely
and all of that. And he has to get up
one day a week or one day a year at
seven o'clock or whatever to see a shadow and call
the weather. Otherwise he just hangs out and does nothing.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I was kind of chuckling this morning. There were some
news stories that the PETA group, oh yeah, protesting pons
Atani Phil and they want him to be retired and
things like that, and it's like, you know, it really
is an imposition to ask the poor Rhodan to work
for what about one hour per year at the at
(02:23):
the most treated like they get treated like royalty the
rest of the year. That's a big imposition.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Hey, I have witnessed that. I have witnessed that whole thing.
And then they do they get they get fed regularly.
They have a really nice uh in the environment, their
habitat that they live in.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You get to go see him. There's several of them
in there, and of course they do take them up
there on you know, tomorrow morning, they'll take them up
on gobblers nob and pull them out. But other than that,
I mean, the guy's got the life for Riley with
all of his other UH group that hangs out with
him in there. So, yeah, you're right, I don't get it,
but they go through that every year. I think the
cake that's pink or blue just doesn't cut it, you
(03:02):
know what I.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Mean, it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Cut it for weather, the reveal cake, give me a break.
I just don't think that would fly on Gobbler's nab.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
All right.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So we got ron rothis with us this morning, of course,
and he does when when he's with us. We always
call it the bifurcation of segments. We talk about the weather,
and we talk about tree care and what we should
do with our trees. But today we're gonna basically focus
on the weather, what we're looking at as we go
over the next six weeks or even longer, and of
course get his prediction now. Talking to Ron this week
(03:37):
to get this set up for to have him on
our show, he asked that he gives prediction at the
very beginning of the segment. Rather I've always had him
wait to the very end give his prediction and then
we go from there. Because he said, I want to
give my prediction, and then I want to explain why
I'm giving my prediction for what it is. So with that,
I turn it over to you, mister prognosticator of prognosticate
(03:59):
Tours and pro weather predictor straordinaire. What do you say
for Groundhog Day? What's our next six weeks going to
look like?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Well?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I do wonder, by the way, if it's cruel to
ask me to come out of my burrow once a
year to make a prediction. It's cruel toward the groundhog.
Why isn't it cool toward me? But that's a rhetorical question.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, really, you know what I actually saw a groundhog
on the side of the rod es Day that got
hit by a car. That's probably the earliest I think
I've ever seen a groundhog. Usually, I mean they don't
actually shut down totally. I mean they can't come out,
but I don't think I've ever seen one out that early.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
In the season.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
That's what you get for coming out early, you get
hit by a car. Yes, So in any case, you know,
the sun is shining brightly outside this morning, at least
outside my place, which makes you really think that I
would be seeing my shadow. However I'm not.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
You are not seeing your shadow. Therefore, you are predicting
the next six weeks to be a mild rest of
the winter.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
It's looking like in early spring this year, or at
least in general, in early spring. And this is why
I wanted to explain this the You know, way back
in the fall, we were seeing indications that we were
going to have a colder and smowier than normal winter,
and it happened. You know, January was exceptionally cold and
(05:32):
snow especially in south central Ohio, southern Ohio, and you know,
they had the East Coast I'm sorry, the Gulf Coast snowstorm,
which was you know, maybe only the second time that's
ever really happened to that extent down there. Arctic air
all the way down to the Gulf Coast, and I
(05:52):
mean just really really exceptionally cold weather in January. So
what we were seeing back in the fall happened. But
the other thing that we've been seeing trendwise is that
it would be an earlier the normal spring and a
heightened severe weather season, and that appears to be happening
(06:14):
as well. The jet stream, and I have a blog
post on my weather doctor blog that actually has these
charts and everything on it, graphics included. Yes, but the
jet stream is going to be coming down into the
Western United States, the Central United States and up into
the Great Lakes, and there is a lot of cold
(06:36):
air up in Canada, a lot of snowpack in Canada,
and so it's looking like the northern plains the Pacific
Northwest are going to be cold of the normal. There's
gonna be a lot of cold up there. But then
with the jet stream hanging out in the Ohio Valley,
warm air from the Gulf of Mexico is going to
be coming up into the southern United States, the East
Coast and up in the Ohio Valley and Ohio Valley
(06:59):
is going to be kind of left in a battleground
between the cold air to the northwest and the warm
air to the southeast. It's looking like the warm air
is generally going to prevail, but with that storm track
so close by, we're going to a very active February
and probably entire spring with a lot of precipitation, frequent
(07:22):
storm systems, and that lends itself to severe weather outbreaks.
There's even been some indications that later this week we
could see the potential for some severe weather that it
mays to be seen. It still early, but that trend
with greater than normal precipitation, greater than normal severe weather
(07:45):
potential looks like it's going to prevail for the spring.
Now here's the fly in the ointment with the with
the jet streams so close by and storm systems moving
along the jet streams fluid, it's not something that's nailed
down to one particular position, and so there are some
(08:07):
indications and some computer models, but a particularly strong blast
of Arctic air from the Polar War tex is going
to come down later in February, and if that were
to happen, we could certainly see another cold spell that
could last for a week or maybe two, but I
(08:28):
would suspect it's probably going to be less than that,
and anytime that happens with storm systems around, you could
get some more snow. So we're not saying that winter
is completely over and there's not going to be anything else,
and we could actually still get a week or two
of cold weather, although there's a big question mark with that.
(08:49):
But overall, we're in a very active spring like pattern.
We're actually beginning, just in my place yesterday began to
accumulate some growing degree days, which really is starting to
make us think about spring, because that's how we measure
when plants start coming into bloom and insects start to
emerge in things like that. Looks like it's going to
(09:12):
be earlier this year, and certainly as we move into March.
It looks like it's going to be an active spring
like pattern for February and March, and even in April.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
We are all right, we got to take a break.
But when you said extreme weather possible, that's possible later
on this coming week, you're not talking.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
About Snelling's aig.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
That's just you're.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Talking about rain. And winds. Yeah, warm weather, extreme weather,
not cold weather.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Extreme weather, not extreme severe like possibly severe thunderstorms or
something like that later this week with a weather system.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
That's the possibility, got it. And we'll find out about
that flying the ointment when we come back from the
break talking with Ron rothis. He is our prognosticator, Prognosticate Tours,
his prediction, no shadow. I'll take that. What do you
say we get into an early start for the spring season.
Come back, we'll talk more with Ron here here on
news Radio six to ten WTVN look at the arbor,
(10:14):
doctor dance. I could just let this play home. Boom,
don't dom, don't doom, don't doom, doom. We're talking uh
shadows and no shadows. What's the weather going to be
like over the next six weeks here on news radio
six to ten WTV and with Ron rothis. He is,
of course our prognosticate Tour of prognostic Ate Tours and
(10:36):
weather predictor extraordinaire. He's also an ISA Board certified Master Arbist.
But he does a great job with the weather and
we've always pitted him against Buckeye Chuck and Punks of
Tony Phil every year and he's been pretty good last year. Man,
you hit that one right on the head.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
We did pretty well. The weather never quite never quite
behaves itself exactly the way we wanted to.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, but you were pretty close because you again had
a couple ups and downs, and you kind of had
those pretty much timed out like you. I mean, it
came pretty much like you said.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
I was. I was proud of what you did well.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
If the if the yard boy is proud.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So no shadow, Ron Roethlis is saying.
And of course you can find all this information on
his website. It's arbordoctor dot com. It's great, great website,
and he has all this information posted and why he's
picking what he's picking, lots of graphics and things for
you to try to understand where he's coming from as
well and how he makes his predictions. By the way,
when you open up a jar of salve and there
(11:38):
is a fly at the very top of it, you
still use the sav.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Or the ointment.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Sure, it's why not?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I because there's a fly in it.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Flies are.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
But you're not eating the save. You're not, well, maybe
you do, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
There you go, But anyway, talking about the weather, so
and and groundhogs in general. By the way, why they
call them woodchucks, I mean they don't chuck wood.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I don't know how much would a woodchuck wood chuck
if a woodchuck chuck would.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Well, they don't chuck wood. I mean, that's the whole deal.
Why they call them woodchucks.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I have no clue. You have to ask the person
who names them.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Well, it comes from the Native American word woo chuck
wu chuck, which means digger.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So you see, I once again learned something from the
yard boy.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
There you go. And that's why they call them woodchucks.
From the Native American word woodchuck woodchuck. And of course
they call them whistlepigs. Have you ever heard one whistle?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I've never even heard the term whistle pig anymore.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Really, Yeah, yeah, they're also called whistle pigs if you
if you startle them and there are several of them,
maybe out in the field or whatever, grazing, they'll whistle
to warn the rest of the group. And that's where
they got the nickname whistle pig. It's a real high,
you know, like a kind of a whistle, and everybody
runs through their burrows and eyes out for a while
(13:14):
until they come back out again. So, yeah, whistle pig
or woodchuck. And by the way, how much wood could
a woodchuck chuck? If the woodchuck could chuck, would they guesstimated?
Here's what they said. They took the the amount of
woodchuck that it would take to fill up their burrow
and their tunnels seven hundred pounds, So they would chuck
seven hundred pounds of wood if they could.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
If they could, but they can, sol they won't.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
But they can, so they won't exactly. So now you
know the rest of the story about groundhogs. And by
the way, their mating season. You know, we're gonna start
smelling skunks here in a couple of weeks, because the
skunk mating season happens to come right along and right
about Valentine's Day. Well, same thing with groundhogs. By by
mid February, the weather's not bad. They're out and about
(13:57):
trying to find the find a yeah, I love and
all the right or wrong places I don't know, but anyway,
that'll be coming up for us as well, So keep.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
That in mind.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
By the way, do me a favor. You got me
started on the meteorological versus astronomical Whether explain the difference
between the two and why you and I talk more
about meteorological now than we do astronomical.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Astronomical seasons are based on the position of the sun
and only the position of the sun. So basically, the
shortest day of the year is the first day of winter,
and the longest day of the year is the first
day of summer. However, temperature doesn't exactly follow that. If
you look at average temperatures, the average temperature for the
(14:43):
entirety of December is colder than the average temperature for
the entirety of March. So if you want to look
at the three coldest months of the year, it's December, January,
and February. If you want to look at the three
warmest month months of the year, it's June, July, and August.
So the seasons and the standpoint of temperature and climatology
(15:08):
and horticulture follow much more closely the meteorological seasons December
first through through the end of February being meteorological winter.
Then they do the calendar astronomical seasons. The coldest day
of the year or the coldst week of the year
is the third week of January, right dead smack in
(15:30):
the middle of meteorological winter. The hottest week of the
year when you look at record high temperatures and things
like that, is the third week of July, again the
mid point in that meteorological summer. So from a standpoint
of climatology, long term climatology, temperature and even the way
plants behave and things like that. I mean, let's face it,
(15:52):
by the end of November, the leaves are off the trees.
We're starting to see, you know, more and more old nights,
even snow by the first December, I mean, and then
by the first of March many years, we're starting to
see bulbs come up, some early plants starting to break, bud,
(16:15):
insects becoming active, skunks beginning to mate, you know, So
I mean, the spring type things start happening by the
first of March, and to wait until the twenty first,
just because of the position of the sun. It really
doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's just something
(16:36):
that was decided a long time ago, but it doesn't
follow how our natural world really works.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
So we can choose. We either can say, hey, it's
forty six days of spring or it's only twenty seven
days of spring.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I'll take the twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
I thought people I wanted spring to come faster. So
the meteorological seasons make a lot more sense than that
standpoint too.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Isn't that the official records weather records based on the
meteorological seasons. Yes, they are, okay, so when you see
all the averages and all that stuff, it's actually based
on the meteorological rather than the astronomical.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, when they say that the winter as a whole
is above normal or below normal normal, it's based on
the entirety of December, January, February. It's not based on
the calendar.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Got it got about a minute ago. What are arborists
doing this time of the year.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Well, this one's talking on the phone with the yard
boy right now, there you go. But besides that, I mean,
with with us beginning to accumulate degree days and things
like that, we're actually doing some dormant season treatments, dormant
oil for overwintering scale insects. My people, I've actually been
(17:50):
out with them. I'm just doing side visits to clients' properties,
and there's a lot of things it's kind of funny
show up and it's snowing. People, What are you going
to see this time of the year. It's amazing what
you can find by it by walking around in wintertime
and just looking at the bare twigs, you know, some
of the evergreens, things like that. We still come upon
(18:13):
a lot of things. It helps us to be able
to plan for the for the coming season. And then
of course you have you know, with the storms that
we had in the fall, and even with winter storms
and things like that, you always have the potential for
broken branches and trees and things. So identifying some of
those structural defects is important. You know, you can really
see any younger tree when they've developed a bad branching structure,
(18:38):
co dominant stems, things like that. You can really identify
that and start to make plans to print that tree
or and and get it so that it has a
nice central leader with side scaffle branches. And doing that
when the tree is young is much better than waiting
until it gets bigger and trying to correct problems which
(19:00):
at that point can't be corrected. I often say, you know,
you're going to start disciplaining your children when they're two
or when you're twenty two. You know, if you if
you don't do anything, do they're twenty two, good luck.
That's kind of a process. And the same thing with
with with trees. You want to start when they're young
and you have it's much easier to get a good
structure on a young tree.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
There you go, Ron roths his website is arbordoctor dot com.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
No shadow.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Six weeks of fairly decent weather and then we jump
into the spring season. That's what he said. I'm going
by his prediction at weather, fairly active weather. There you go,
and we'll see how we turns out tomorrow with Buckeye
Chuck and Punks, with Tony Fill and all the other
groundhogs around the United States. Ron, thank you always a pleasure,
great information, and I will talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Sounds good.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Go bucks, go bucks, All right, quick break, we come back.
Phone lines are open for you at eight eight hundred
six ' ten WTVN here on news radio six to
ten WTVN. You know, I've always had fun with Groundhog Day,
and you know, making the predictions and all and I
have it always gets me excited. And I think having
(20:10):
gone there and experienced that one time in punk Satawny
just makes it that much more exciting. If you've never
done it before, try it sometime. It really is a
lot of fun. By the way, I used to sit
down and actually go through and see where everybody what
they predicted, because there's a bunch of groundhogs and other
critters around the United States that does their Groundhog Day predictions.
(20:31):
But somebody went through and actually put the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration actually went through and put the rankings
of predictions their accuracy through all of these. And guess
who's number one? Staten Island Chuck at eighty five percent.
You know, he's the one that bit the governor I
think a couple of years ago when he helped get
him out of there, bit him in the hand. General
(20:53):
Beauregard Lee from Georgia comes in second with eighty percent,
and Lander Lil, which is actually a prairie dogs statue
out of Wyoming that shouldn't count, uh, comes in at
seventy five percent. So where do we stand with Buckeye
Chuck and Marion. Buckeye Chuck, believe it or not, is
number eight in his predictions at fifty five percent. Well,
(21:16):
now you're saying, wait to say you did sa anything
about Punksatoni Phil. Well, as we work down the top twenty,
punk Satoni Phil comes in at number seventeen, just above
Woody the Woodchuck in Michigan and Mohabbi Max a Turtle
out in Nevada.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I love that you call him punk Satoni.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
He sounds like tawny punks, but punk sounds like I'm sorry,
punksin spaghetti punk Satani.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Get the sauce on there, Punk Satani Phil.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Anyway, he's at thirty five percent now and in back
in the Phil here a little bit. You gotta remember
Phil's been the one who's been recorded since eighteen eighty seven,
so he's got a lot more predictions than the rest
of these dudes. So anyway, there you go. But he
comes into thirty five percent, So there you go, and
(22:12):
we'll see tomorrow what they predicted. But you know one
thing for sure, it is what it is. Whatever the
weather's going to be, that's what it's going to be.
And I can't wait for spring to get here because
I'm excited and read to get started. I don't know
about you, but I am, by the way, coming up
the top of the hour. I told you I would
get started today this weekend with some of the books
that I have found over the winter that are outstanding
(22:36):
that I highly recommend for you to take a look at.
And when this book was when I saw this, and
this actually just came out recently, I've been waiting for
it and waiting for it. My comment was, it's about time.
It's called bird Friendly Gardening. And you know, we've got
all the books that we've been published over the last
few years about pollinator gardening, gardening for the monarch butterfly,
(22:59):
gardening for the bees, you know, and which is all
great because that's what we need to be doing. But
you know, the other the other critters out there that
is facing a lot of issues right now would be
those birds in our backyard, and they really are facing
some of the same issues that our pollinators and our
bees and our monarch butterflies are facing as well.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Well.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Jim McGinnis has written a book called Bird Friendly Gardening
and is absolutely outstanding. She has done the homework for
you it. I'm not going to spoil it. We'll talk
with her about it at the top of the hour,
but it's everything I thought it would be and a
whole lot more. And she wrote a book a few
years ago, and I didn't know anything about it until
(23:38):
I got this book, and then I found out about
her other book. It's just as good as this book,
and it's talking about micro garding. We'll talk about that
as well at the top of the hour again with
Jen McGinnis. Their website, by the way, if you want
to check it out ahead of time, is FRAU Zenny.
That's f r a U Zenny z I N N
(23:58):
I E dot Another break and we come back. We've
got lots of tips to share with you and taking
your calls at eight two to one WTV in here
on news Radio six ten WTVN. Punk Satani, welcome back,
talking to you already here on news radio six ten
WTVN A two to one w TV and is our number.
Have a tip you'd like to share, or a question
(24:20):
or whatever, give us a buzz. I'd love to talk
to you this week.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And I.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Had this our special website which is Ron Wilson online
dot com, and we post updated information, plant picks of
the week, recipes, all kinds of great things and some
of the you can you can listen to some of
our download some of our segments and then listen to
them as as well on that website. But anyway, this week,
(24:48):
Buggy Joe Boggs, you all remember Buggy Joe Boggs. He
is has been working diligently with the OSUE extension to
get out some new extension in fact sheets through the
Beagle bygl addressing the box tree moth. Now, you heard
Joe and I talking a lot about box tree moth,
(25:11):
especially toward the end of the season in twenty twenty
four and basically you know, telling folks about it. Even
though it hasn't been reported in Columbus, it has been
reported in north western Ohio and in south western Ohio.
(25:31):
And bringing it up again because the where this has
continued to spread up in Michigan, coming down from that
area now from New York, coming across into Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
So it's on the.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Borderline there for Ohio and of course in southwest and
we're thinking it's probably in other places as well. Just
folks not realizing what this is is causing problems with
their box would But it's the box tree moth. And
again the whole point is getting the information out about
the box tree moth. So you know what it is,
(26:06):
you know what to look for, you know what to
watch for. And basically I have said anybody the way
I look at it right now, if you're on the
east side of the Mississippi, all right and you have boxwood,
I would right now. I don't care if you're north
or south, central, Midwest, doesn't matter, because I think this.
You know, Unfortunately, this thing's going to move. It's not
(26:28):
very fast, but it is moving. Maryland, I think, has
got it in some areas. Massachusetts has picked it up
in some areas, so it is popping up here and there.
It's been in Canada for several years.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It came from Europe.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Of course, boxwood are native plants in Europe, and unfortunately,
when it's a native plant like this, and you get
this caterpillar called it's a box tree moth, it's a moth,
has a caterpillar, lays eggs, a caterpillar's hatch out on
the box would and they just feed on those leaves
and they can just do a number in a seven
(27:06):
to ten fourteen day period. Unbelievable what they can do.
But again, it's the whole idea of getting the word
out there, and I think the good thing going for
us right now is one getting the word out there
so folks know what to look for. And secondly, the
fact that boxwood is not a native plant in the
United States, so they aren't everywhere. They don't grow in
(27:27):
the woods and you know, wild and native. They're only
in the landscapes. And typically when you see boxwood grown
in the landscape, it's grown for a hedge, usually for
more of a formal type of a hedge. You know,
that's what it's used for. But it's not like you
have a monoculture of all boxwood in your yard, although
I've seen some estates that really got involved with a
(27:49):
lot of boxwood with the hedges around their herb guards
and things like that. But nevertheless, our goal is always
to keep you updated as far as these insects, so
that you can keep an eye out for them. You remember,
we I mean, it's all think about it back with
the emerald ashboar and keeping you informed about that, which
unfortunately we couldn't anything about. Basically has wiped out most
of the ash trees in Ohio work and I think
(28:09):
it's now finally over into Nebraska and hitting the Wyoming areas.
So it's working its way across the United States as
we predicted, wiping out ash trees. But keeping you informed.
The Asian longhorn beetle down in southern Ohio in Claremont County.
That's been i think reported five different times in the
United States. And when that thing, when that thing is found,
(28:32):
they totally eradicate it. I mean totally. They can't let
this think it. They quarantine the area, They do whatever
it takes to get rid of these. So they they
you know, the Asian longhorn beetle, and again somebody saw it,
reported it, let more people know about it, get the
word out there, and then people found it. Blah blah blah,
quarantined it. And now they're quarantined. You know, they can
(28:52):
eradicate it. So spotted lantern fly started moving into the
Ohio area a couple of years ago, keeping again and informed,
and it's moving in. Nothing we're gonna be able to
do about that, but it is easily controlled. You just
got to know what you're looking for, et cetera, et cetera. Well,
the same thing with this box tree moth, and again,
you know, we just want to make sure you understand
(29:15):
that it's out there and to watch for it. So
if you have boxwood in your landscape where your neighbors do,
go to our website. You go to either one of them,
You go to Ron Wilson online dot com, or you
can go to the bygl dot OSU dot eu. And
what Joe and his group has done is they have
put out three new OSU Extension boxtree Moth fact sheets
(29:40):
to get us started this season, pretty much covering all
the information about the box tree moth. So we get
the word out there. Everybody that listens to our show,
that goes to talks with Joe and everybody from OSUE Extension,
they're going to be et cetera, et cetera, will know
about it and what to watch for in case it
does show up. Of course, then to report it. And
(30:02):
then after you report it and it's verified, then you
control it. And by the way, the good news here
is very easy to control. It's just that if you
don't notice it and you let it get In other words,
if you had a boxwood hedge and I saw this
happen in the fall where this has shown up, you
didn't notice it, and then a week later you come
(30:24):
back and half your boxwood are gone because these things
are eating machines. It's crazy, but it had you noticed
it at the beginning, you could have sprayed gotten them
under control. As a matter of fact, most any insecticide
that lists leaf eating caterpillars will take care of it,
including BT, which is all organic, all natural, so you
know I sprang with BT is still one of the
(30:46):
most highly recommended insecticides to use to get this under control.
But anyway, box tree moth three new fact sheets about
it starts from the history of the box tree moth,
so you learn a little bit more about that, the range,
how it's spreading. Then you learn more about its life cycle.
And these can't have We're thinking multiple generations in one
(31:08):
sea growing season, so they may have two three four caterpillar,
two moth caterpillar to moth caterpillar to moth sessions depending
on the weather. So you'll learn more about that than
you learn about what to look for and then how
to take care of it and the insecticides it can
be used to take care of it. There are no
(31:31):
preventative insecticides at this stage to be treating boxwood with,
so you don't want to use any preventatives. Don't do
that you want to spray once you detect it. So again,
the whole idea is getting the information out to you
and everybody out there that has boxwood to know what
to look for. Nurseries. They're all aware of it. At
(31:51):
this stage. There's traps. They've got the USDA or the ODA.
USDA is out there trapping trying to see if they
can find where maybe the mails have been flying around
center to try to map it out a little bit more.
But anyway, three new fact sheets tells you all about it,
everything you ever want to know about boxtree moth and
you can find it at Ron Wilson online dot com
or byg L dot OSU dot e DU. And again
(32:17):
I've printed these out and giving them to all the
employees of where I work and everybody that I know
so far that I can get that out to get
that information, that's what I've been doing. So be sure
and check that out, print it out, have it available
so you know what to look for for the boxtree
moth if you have boxwood in your landscape. All right,
quick break, we come back top of the hour. We're
going to talk to Fran Zenny, Frazenny, I'm sorry, Frazenny.
(32:39):
I'll get it, frawz Enny. And it's of course Jen McGinnis.
She'll tell you why the frale. Zenny talking about her
new book, It's Bird Friendly Gardening here on news Radio
six ten w T
Good morning, everybody. Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm Ron Wilson, and you are in the garden here
on news radio six ' ten WTVN A two to
one WTVN eight hundred and six to ten WTVN talking
about yardening on this first day of February. Can you
believe that is an exciting day for me? Because first
falls first February, and that means we had a quick,
quick month here, the short month, and then we're right
(00:23):
into March, and then we're right into the spring season.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Or are we well.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I guess all of that will be known after tomorrow
and we see what Buckeye, Chuck and Punks and Tony
Phil have to say, or we may even know right
now because I have asked my good friend, and of
course he is so and you've heard him on our
show before. His website arbordoctor dot com. He is actually
(00:48):
a ISA board certified Master Arborist, registered Consulting arbist, but
he is a hobby meter urologist and he has been
doing this since he was like five years old, and
he is one of the best. And every Groundhog Day
weekend I always try to pit him against Punks Atony
Phil and Buckeye Chuck to see, uh, who's who's got
(01:11):
the best predicted prediction? So, as usual, we have him
on our show this morning to find out what what
is his prediction? Does he see a shadow or not?
Joining us this morning, my good friend Ohio State graduate again.
The website is arbordoctor dot com mister ron Rothus we
call him today it's Chevy at Ron versus Punks'tony Phil
(01:33):
versus Buckeye Chuck.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Good morning, sir, Good morning.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
If I was any better, I would be you.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Actually, I'd be punks to Tony Phil because the way
he gets treated and all of his coorse and that
they get fed so well and groomed and treated nicely
and all of that. And he has to get up
one day a week or one day a year at
seven o'clock or whatever to see a shadow and call
the weather. Otherwise he just hangs out and does nothing.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I was kind of chuckling this morning. There were some
news stories that the PETA group, oh yeah, protesting pons
Atani Phil and they want him to be retired and
things like that, and it's like, you know, it really
is an imposition to ask the poor Rhodan to work
for what about one hour per year at the at
(02:23):
the most treated like they get treated like royalty the
rest of the year. That's a big imposition.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Hey, I have witnessed that. I have witnessed that whole thing.
And then they do they get they get fed regularly.
They have a really nice uh in the environment, their
habitat that they live in.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You get to go see him. There's several of them
in there, and of course they do take them up
there on you know, tomorrow morning, they'll take them up
on gobblers nob and pull them out. But other than that,
I mean, the guy's got the life for Riley with
all of his other UH group that hangs out with
him in there. So, yeah, you're right, I don't get it,
but they go through that every year. I think the
cake that's pink or blue just doesn't cut it, you
(03:02):
know what I.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Mean, it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Cut it for weather, the reveal cake, give me a break.
I just don't think that would fly on Gobbler's nab.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
All right.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So we got ron rothis with us this morning, of course,
and he does when when he's with us. We always
call it the bifurcation of segments. We talk about the weather,
and we talk about tree care and what we should
do with our trees. But today we're gonna basically focus
on the weather, what we're looking at as we go
over the next six weeks or even longer, and of
course get his prediction now. Talking to Ron this week
(03:37):
to get this set up for to have him on
our show, he asked that he gives prediction at the
very beginning of the segment. Rather I've always had him
wait to the very end give his prediction and then
we go from there. Because he said, I want to
give my prediction, and then I want to explain why
I'm giving my prediction for what it is. So with that,
I turn it over to you, mister prognosticator of prognosticate
(03:59):
Tours and pro weather predictor straordinaire. What do you say
for Groundhog Day? What's our next six weeks going to
look like?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Well?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I do wonder, by the way, if it's cruel to
ask me to come out of my burrow once a
year to make a prediction. It's cruel toward the groundhog.
Why isn't it cool toward me? But that's a rhetorical question.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, really, you know what I actually saw a groundhog
on the side of the rod es Day that got
hit by a car. That's probably the earliest I think
I've ever seen a groundhog. Usually, I mean they don't
actually shut down totally. I mean they can't come out,
but I don't think I've ever seen one out that early.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
In the season.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
That's what you get for coming out early, you get
hit by a car. Yes, So in any case, you know,
the sun is shining brightly outside this morning, at least
outside my place, which makes you really think that I
would be seeing my shadow. However I'm not.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
You are not seeing your shadow. Therefore, you are predicting
the next six weeks to be a mild rest of
the winter.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
It's looking like in early spring this year, or at
least in general, in early spring. And this is why
I wanted to explain this the You know, way back
in the fall, we were seeing indications that we were
going to have a colder and smowier than normal winter,
and it happened. You know, January was exceptionally cold and
(05:32):
snow especially in south central Ohio, southern Ohio, and you know,
they had the East Coast I'm sorry, the Gulf Coast snowstorm,
which was you know, maybe only the second time that's
ever really happened to that extent down there. Arctic air
all the way down to the Gulf Coast, and I
(05:52):
mean just really really exceptionally cold weather in January. So
what we were seeing back in the fall happened. But
the other thing that we've been seeing trendwise is that
it would be an earlier the normal spring and a
heightened severe weather season, and that appears to be happening
(06:14):
as well. The jet stream, and I have a blog
post on my weather doctor blog that actually has these
charts and everything on it, graphics included. Yes, but the
jet stream is going to be coming down into the
Western United States, the Central United States and up into
the Great Lakes, and there is a lot of cold
(06:36):
air up in Canada, a lot of snowpack in Canada,
and so it's looking like the northern plains the Pacific
Northwest are going to be cold of the normal. There's
gonna be a lot of cold up there. But then
with the jet stream hanging out in the Ohio Valley,
warm air from the Gulf of Mexico is going to
be coming up into the southern United States, the East
Coast and up in the Ohio Valley and Ohio Valley
(06:59):
is going to be kind of left in a battleground
between the cold air to the northwest and the warm
air to the southeast. It's looking like the warm air
is generally going to prevail, but with that storm track
so close by, we're going to a very active February
and probably entire spring with a lot of precipitation, frequent
(07:22):
storm systems, and that lends itself to severe weather outbreaks.
There's even been some indications that later this week we
could see the potential for some severe weather that it
mays to be seen. It still early, but that trend
with greater than normal precipitation, greater than normal severe weather
(07:45):
potential looks like it's going to prevail for the spring.
Now here's the fly in the ointment with the with
the jet streams so close by and storm systems moving
along the jet streams fluid, it's not something that's nailed
down to one particular position, and so there are some
(08:07):
indications and some computer models, but a particularly strong blast
of Arctic air from the Polar War tex is going
to come down later in February, and if that were
to happen, we could certainly see another cold spell that
could last for a week or maybe two, but I
(08:28):
would suspect it's probably going to be less than that,
and anytime that happens with storm systems around, you could
get some more snow. So we're not saying that winter
is completely over and there's not going to be anything else,
and we could actually still get a week or two
of cold weather, although there's a big question mark with that.
(08:49):
But overall, we're in a very active spring like pattern.
We're actually beginning, just in my place yesterday began to
accumulate some growing degree days, which really is starting to
make us think about spring, because that's how we measure
when plants start coming into bloom and insects start to
emerge in things like that. Looks like it's going to
(09:12):
be earlier this year, and certainly as we move into March.
It looks like it's going to be an active spring
like pattern for February and March, and even in April.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
We are all right, we got to take a break.
But when you said extreme weather possible, that's possible later
on this coming week, you're not talking.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
About Snelling's aig.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
That's just you're.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Talking about rain. And winds. Yeah, warm weather, extreme weather,
not cold weather.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Extreme weather, not extreme severe like possibly severe thunderstorms or
something like that later this week with a weather system.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
That's the possibility, got it. And we'll find out about
that flying the ointment when we come back from the
break talking with Ron rothis. He is our prognosticator, Prognosticate Tours,
his prediction, no shadow. I'll take that. What do you
say we get into an early start for the spring season.
Come back, we'll talk more with Ron here here on
news Radio six to ten WTVN look at the arbor,
(10:14):
doctor dance. I could just let this play home. Boom,
don't dom, don't doom, don't doom, doom. We're talking uh
shadows and no shadows. What's the weather going to be
like over the next six weeks here on news radio
six to ten WTV and with Ron rothis. He is,
of course our prognosticate Tour of prognostic Ate Tours and
(10:36):
weather predictor extraordinaire. He's also an ISA Board certified Master Arbist.
But he does a great job with the weather and
we've always pitted him against Buckeye Chuck and Punks of
Tony Phil every year and he's been pretty good last year. Man,
you hit that one right on the head.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
We did pretty well. The weather never quite never quite
behaves itself exactly the way we wanted to.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, but you were pretty close because you again had
a couple ups and downs, and you kind of had
those pretty much timed out like you. I mean, it
came pretty much like you said.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
I was. I was proud of what you did well.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
If the if the yard boy is proud.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So no shadow, Ron Roethlis is saying.
And of course you can find all this information on
his website. It's arbordoctor dot com. It's great, great website,
and he has all this information posted and why he's
picking what he's picking, lots of graphics and things for
you to try to understand where he's coming from as
well and how he makes his predictions. By the way,
when you open up a jar of salve and there
(11:38):
is a fly at the very top of it, you
still use the sav.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Or the ointment.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Sure, it's why not?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I because there's a fly in it.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Flies are.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
But you're not eating the save. You're not, well, maybe
you do, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
There you go, But anyway, talking about the weather, so
and and groundhogs in general. By the way, why they
call them woodchucks, I mean they don't chuck wood.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I don't know how much would a woodchuck wood chuck
if a woodchuck chuck would.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Well, they don't chuck wood. I mean, that's the whole deal.
Why they call them woodchucks.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I have no clue. You have to ask the person
who names them.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Well, it comes from the Native American word woo chuck
wu chuck, which means digger.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So you see, I once again learned something from the
yard boy.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
There you go. And that's why they call them woodchucks.
From the Native American word woodchuck woodchuck. And of course
they call them whistlepigs. Have you ever heard one whistle?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I've never even heard the term whistle pig anymore.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Really, Yeah, yeah, they're also called whistle pigs if you
if you startle them and there are several of them,
maybe out in the field or whatever, grazing, they'll whistle
to warn the rest of the group. And that's where
they got the nickname whistle pig. It's a real high,
you know, like a kind of a whistle, and everybody
runs through their burrows and eyes out for a while
(13:14):
until they come back out again. So, yeah, whistle pig
or woodchuck. And by the way, how much wood could
a woodchuck chuck? If the woodchuck could chuck, would they guesstimated?
Here's what they said. They took the the amount of
woodchuck that it would take to fill up their burrow
and their tunnels seven hundred pounds, So they would chuck
seven hundred pounds of wood if they could.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
If they could, but they can, sol they won't.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
But they can, so they won't exactly. So now you
know the rest of the story about groundhogs. And by
the way, their mating season. You know, we're gonna start
smelling skunks here in a couple of weeks, because the
skunk mating season happens to come right along and right
about Valentine's Day. Well, same thing with groundhogs. By by
mid February, the weather's not bad. They're out and about
(13:57):
trying to find the find a yeah, I love and
all the right or wrong places I don't know, but anyway,
that'll be coming up for us as well, So keep.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
That in mind.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
By the way, do me a favor. You got me
started on the meteorological versus astronomical Whether explain the difference
between the two and why you and I talk more
about meteorological now than we do astronomical.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Astronomical seasons are based on the position of the sun
and only the position of the sun. So basically, the
shortest day of the year is the first day of winter,
and the longest day of the year is the first
day of summer. However, temperature doesn't exactly follow that. If
you look at average temperatures, the average temperature for the
(14:43):
entirety of December is colder than the average temperature for
the entirety of March. So if you want to look
at the three coldest months of the year, it's December, January,
and February. If you want to look at the three
warmest month months of the year, it's June, July, and August.
So the seasons and the standpoint of temperature and climatology
(15:08):
and horticulture follow much more closely the meteorological seasons December
first through through the end of February being meteorological winter.
Then they do the calendar astronomical seasons. The coldest day
of the year or the coldst week of the year
is the third week of January, right dead smack in
(15:30):
the middle of meteorological winter. The hottest week of the
year when you look at record high temperatures and things
like that, is the third week of July, again the
mid point in that meteorological summer. So from a standpoint
of climatology, long term climatology, temperature and even the way
plants behave and things like that. I mean, let's face it,
(15:52):
by the end of November, the leaves are off the trees.
We're starting to see, you know, more and more old nights,
even snow by the first December, I mean, and then
by the first of March many years, we're starting to
see bulbs come up, some early plants starting to break, bud,
(16:15):
insects becoming active, skunks beginning to mate, you know, So
I mean, the spring type things start happening by the
first of March, and to wait until the twenty first,
just because of the position of the sun. It really
doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's just something
(16:36):
that was decided a long time ago, but it doesn't
follow how our natural world really works.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
So we can choose. We either can say, hey, it's
forty six days of spring or it's only twenty seven
days of spring.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I'll take the twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
I thought people I wanted spring to come faster. So
the meteorological seasons make a lot more sense than that
standpoint too.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Isn't that the official records weather records based on the
meteorological seasons. Yes, they are, okay, so when you see
all the averages and all that stuff, it's actually based
on the meteorological rather than the astronomical.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, when they say that the winter as a whole
is above normal or below normal normal, it's based on
the entirety of December, January, February. It's not based on
the calendar.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Got it got about a minute ago. What are arborists
doing this time of the year.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Well, this one's talking on the phone with the yard
boy right now, there you go. But besides that, I mean,
with with us beginning to accumulate degree days and things
like that, we're actually doing some dormant season treatments, dormant
oil for overwintering scale insects. My people, I've actually been
(17:50):
out with them. I'm just doing side visits to clients' properties,
and there's a lot of things it's kind of funny
show up and it's snowing. People, What are you going
to see this time of the year. It's amazing what
you can find by it by walking around in wintertime
and just looking at the bare twigs, you know, some
of the evergreens, things like that. We still come upon
(18:13):
a lot of things. It helps us to be able
to plan for the for the coming season. And then
of course you have you know, with the storms that
we had in the fall, and even with winter storms
and things like that, you always have the potential for
broken branches and trees and things. So identifying some of
those structural defects is important. You know, you can really
see any younger tree when they've developed a bad branching structure,
(18:38):
co dominant stems, things like that. You can really identify
that and start to make plans to print that tree
or and and get it so that it has a
nice central leader with side scaffle branches. And doing that
when the tree is young is much better than waiting
until it gets bigger and trying to correct problems which
(19:00):
at that point can't be corrected. I often say, you know,
you're going to start disciplaining your children when they're two
or when you're twenty two. You know, if you if
you don't do anything, do they're twenty two, good luck.
That's kind of a process. And the same thing with
with with trees. You want to start when they're young
and you have it's much easier to get a good
structure on a young tree.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
There you go, Ron roths his website is arbordoctor dot com.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
No shadow.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Six weeks of fairly decent weather and then we jump
into the spring season. That's what he said. I'm going
by his prediction at weather, fairly active weather. There you go,
and we'll see how we turns out tomorrow with Buckeye
Chuck and Punks, with Tony Fill and all the other
groundhogs around the United States. Ron, thank you always a pleasure,
great information, and I will talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Sounds good.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Go bucks, go bucks, All right, quick break, we come back.
Phone lines are open for you at eight eight hundred
six ' ten WTVN here on news radio six to
ten WTVN. You know, I've always had fun with Groundhog Day,
and you know, making the predictions and all and I
have it always gets me excited. And I think having
(20:10):
gone there and experienced that one time in punk Satawny
just makes it that much more exciting. If you've never
done it before, try it sometime. It really is a
lot of fun. By the way, I used to sit
down and actually go through and see where everybody what
they predicted, because there's a bunch of groundhogs and other
critters around the United States that does their Groundhog Day predictions.
(20:31):
But somebody went through and actually put the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration actually went through and put the rankings
of predictions their accuracy through all of these. And guess
who's number one? Staten Island Chuck at eighty five percent.
You know, he's the one that bit the governor I
think a couple of years ago when he helped get
him out of there, bit him in the hand. General
(20:53):
Beauregard Lee from Georgia comes in second with eighty percent,
and Lander Lil, which is actually a prairie dogs statue
out of Wyoming that shouldn't count, uh, comes in at
seventy five percent. So where do we stand with Buckeye
Chuck and Marion. Buckeye Chuck, believe it or not, is
number eight in his predictions at fifty five percent. Well,
(21:16):
now you're saying, wait to say you did sa anything
about Punksatoni Phil. Well, as we work down the top twenty,
punk Satoni Phil comes in at number seventeen, just above
Woody the Woodchuck in Michigan and Mohabbi Max a Turtle
out in Nevada.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I love that you call him punk Satoni.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
He sounds like tawny punks, but punk sounds like I'm sorry,
punksin spaghetti punk Satani.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Get the sauce on there, Punk Satani Phil.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Anyway, he's at thirty five percent now and in back
in the Phil here a little bit. You gotta remember
Phil's been the one who's been recorded since eighteen eighty seven,
so he's got a lot more predictions than the rest
of these dudes. So anyway, there you go. But he
comes into thirty five percent, So there you go, and
(22:12):
we'll see tomorrow what they predicted. But you know one
thing for sure, it is what it is. Whatever the
weather's going to be, that's what it's going to be.
And I can't wait for spring to get here because
I'm excited and read to get started. I don't know
about you, but I am, by the way, coming up
the top of the hour. I told you I would
get started today this weekend with some of the books
that I have found over the winter that are outstanding
(22:36):
that I highly recommend for you to take a look at.
And when this book was when I saw this, and
this actually just came out recently, I've been waiting for
it and waiting for it. My comment was, it's about time.
It's called bird Friendly Gardening. And you know, we've got
all the books that we've been published over the last
few years about pollinator gardening, gardening for the monarch butterfly,
(22:59):
gardening for the bees, you know, and which is all
great because that's what we need to be doing. But
you know, the other the other critters out there that
is facing a lot of issues right now would be
those birds in our backyard, and they really are facing
some of the same issues that our pollinators and our
bees and our monarch butterflies are facing as well.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Well.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Jim McGinnis has written a book called Bird Friendly Gardening
and is absolutely outstanding. She has done the homework for
you it. I'm not going to spoil it. We'll talk
with her about it at the top of the hour,
but it's everything I thought it would be and a
whole lot more. And she wrote a book a few
years ago, and I didn't know anything about it until
(23:38):
I got this book, and then I found out about
her other book. It's just as good as this book,
and it's talking about micro garding. We'll talk about that
as well at the top of the hour again with
Jen McGinnis. Their website, by the way, if you want
to check it out ahead of time, is FRAU Zenny.
That's f r a U Zenny z I N N
(23:58):
I E dot Another break and we come back. We've
got lots of tips to share with you and taking
your calls at eight two to one WTV in here
on news Radio six ten WTVN. Punk Satani, welcome back,
talking to you already here on news radio six ten
WTVN A two to one w TV and is our number.
Have a tip you'd like to share, or a question
(24:20):
or whatever, give us a buzz. I'd love to talk
to you this week.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And I.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Had this our special website which is Ron Wilson online
dot com, and we post updated information, plant picks of
the week, recipes, all kinds of great things and some
of the you can you can listen to some of
our download some of our segments and then listen to
them as as well on that website. But anyway, this week,
(24:48):
Buggy Joe Boggs, you all remember Buggy Joe Boggs. He
is has been working diligently with the OSUE extension to
get out some new extension in fact sheets through the
Beagle bygl addressing the box tree moth. Now, you heard
Joe and I talking a lot about box tree moth,
(25:11):
especially toward the end of the season in twenty twenty
four and basically you know, telling folks about it. Even
though it hasn't been reported in Columbus, it has been
reported in north western Ohio and in south western Ohio.
(25:31):
And bringing it up again because the where this has
continued to spread up in Michigan, coming down from that
area now from New York, coming across into Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
So it's on the.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Borderline there for Ohio and of course in southwest and
we're thinking it's probably in other places as well. Just
folks not realizing what this is is causing problems with
their box would But it's the box tree moth. And
again the whole point is getting the information out about
the box tree moth. So you know what it is,
(26:06):
you know what to look for, you know what to
watch for. And basically I have said anybody the way
I look at it right now, if you're on the
east side of the Mississippi, all right and you have boxwood,
I would right now. I don't care if you're north
or south, central, Midwest, doesn't matter, because I think this.
You know, Unfortunately, this thing's going to move. It's not
(26:28):
very fast, but it is moving. Maryland, I think, has
got it in some areas. Massachusetts has picked it up
in some areas, so it is popping up here and there.
It's been in Canada for several years.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It came from Europe.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Of course, boxwood are native plants in Europe, and unfortunately,
when it's a native plant like this, and you get
this caterpillar called it's a box tree moth, it's a moth,
has a caterpillar, lays eggs, a caterpillar's hatch out on
the box would and they just feed on those leaves
and they can just do a number in a seven
(27:06):
to ten fourteen day period. Unbelievable what they can do.
But again, it's the whole idea of getting the word
out there, and I think the good thing going for
us right now is one getting the word out there
so folks know what to look for. And secondly, the
fact that boxwood is not a native plant in the
United States, so they aren't everywhere. They don't grow in
(27:27):
the woods and you know, wild and native. They're only
in the landscapes. And typically when you see boxwood grown
in the landscape, it's grown for a hedge, usually for
more of a formal type of a hedge. You know,
that's what it's used for. But it's not like you
have a monoculture of all boxwood in your yard, although
I've seen some estates that really got involved with a
(27:49):
lot of boxwood with the hedges around their herb guards
and things like that. But nevertheless, our goal is always
to keep you updated as far as these insects, so
that you can keep an eye out for them. You remember,
we I mean, it's all think about it back with
the emerald ashboar and keeping you informed about that, which
unfortunately we couldn't anything about. Basically has wiped out most
of the ash trees in Ohio work and I think
(28:09):
it's now finally over into Nebraska and hitting the Wyoming areas.
So it's working its way across the United States as
we predicted, wiping out ash trees. But keeping you informed.
The Asian longhorn beetle down in southern Ohio in Claremont County.
That's been i think reported five different times in the
United States. And when that thing, when that thing is found,
(28:32):
they totally eradicate it. I mean totally. They can't let
this think it. They quarantine the area, They do whatever
it takes to get rid of these. So they they
you know, the Asian longhorn beetle, and again somebody saw it,
reported it, let more people know about it, get the
word out there, and then people found it. Blah blah blah,
quarantined it. And now they're quarantined. You know, they can
(28:52):
eradicate it. So spotted lantern fly started moving into the
Ohio area a couple of years ago, keeping again and informed,
and it's moving in. Nothing we're gonna be able to
do about that, but it is easily controlled. You just
got to know what you're looking for, et cetera, et cetera. Well,
the same thing with this box tree moth, and again,
you know, we just want to make sure you understand
(29:15):
that it's out there and to watch for it. So
if you have boxwood in your landscape where your neighbors do,
go to our website. You go to either one of them,
You go to Ron Wilson online dot com, or you
can go to the bygl dot OSU dot eu. And
what Joe and his group has done is they have
put out three new OSU Extension boxtree Moth fact sheets
(29:40):
to get us started this season, pretty much covering all
the information about the box tree moth. So we get
the word out there. Everybody that listens to our show,
that goes to talks with Joe and everybody from OSUE Extension,
they're going to be et cetera, et cetera, will know
about it and what to watch for in case it
does show up. Of course, then to report it. And
(30:02):
then after you report it and it's verified, then you
control it. And by the way, the good news here
is very easy to control. It's just that if you
don't notice it and you let it get In other words,
if you had a boxwood hedge and I saw this
happen in the fall where this has shown up, you
didn't notice it, and then a week later you come
(30:24):
back and half your boxwood are gone because these things
are eating machines. It's crazy, but it had you noticed
it at the beginning, you could have sprayed gotten them
under control. As a matter of fact, most any insecticide
that lists leaf eating caterpillars will take care of it,
including BT, which is all organic, all natural, so you
know I sprang with BT is still one of the
(30:46):
most highly recommended insecticides to use to get this under control.
But anyway, box tree moth three new fact sheets about
it starts from the history of the box tree moth,
so you learn a little bit more about that, the range,
how it's spreading. Then you learn more about its life cycle.
And these can't have We're thinking multiple generations in one
(31:08):
sea growing season, so they may have two three four caterpillar,
two moth caterpillar to moth caterpillar to moth sessions depending
on the weather. So you'll learn more about that than
you learn about what to look for and then how
to take care of it and the insecticides it can
be used to take care of it. There are no
(31:31):
preventative insecticides at this stage to be treating boxwood with,
so you don't want to use any preventatives. Don't do
that you want to spray once you detect it. So again,
the whole idea is getting the information out to you
and everybody out there that has boxwood to know what
to look for. Nurseries. They're all aware of it. At
(31:51):
this stage. There's traps. They've got the USDA or the ODA.
USDA is out there trapping trying to see if they
can find where maybe the mails have been flying around
center to try to map it out a little bit more.
But anyway, three new fact sheets tells you all about it,
everything you ever want to know about boxtree moth and
you can find it at Ron Wilson online dot com
or byg L dot OSU dot e DU. And again
(32:17):
I've printed these out and giving them to all the
employees of where I work and everybody that I know
so far that I can get that out to get
that information, that's what I've been doing. So be sure
and check that out, print it out, have it available
so you know what to look for for the boxtree
moth if you have boxwood in your landscape. All right,
quick break, we come back top of the hour. We're
going to talk to Fran Zenny, Frazenny, I'm sorry, Frazenny.
(32:39):
I'll get it, frawz Enny. And it's of course Jen McGinnis.
She'll tell you why the frale. Zenny talking about her
new book, It's Bird Friendly Gardening here on news Radio
six ten w T
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