As our growing season progresses and rain picks up in Angelina County, I’m intrigued to hear gardeners and agricultural producers comment on what weeds, insects, fungus, or other pests are causing problems for them. I know it is too exhaustive to cover in the scope of this column, but I wish I could wrap my head around how the temperatures, rainfall, and vegetative growth work together to affect pest populations as well as the success of gardens, pastures, lawns, and hay meadows.
Just twelve months ago, we had a hot, dry fall that left grasses, trees, and shrubs in a grim state as they entered their winter dormancy. Those stressed lawns and stressed pastures, which were then followed by an abundance of rain, left opportunities for weeds to germinate at rates higher than we’ve seen in some time. The fall-germinating weeds seeds are what created our abundance of weeds in the spring. And we all well remember just how much rain we received in the spring and early summer of this year!
That abundance of moisture (excessive rainfall) encouraged all types of vegetative growth – both for the better and the worse. Additionally, I believe those downpours encouraged many insect problems as well as increased fungal pressure. These weeds, insect populations, and fungal outbreaks were noticed throughout the summer and have had to be dealt with at a rate we have not seen in a while.
Several homeowners have reached out to me complaining about weeds in their lawns that have never had weed problems before. Stockmen studying pastures are also confused why such an abundance of weeds have grown in larger numbers than ever before. I’m convinced that the all the grasses were thin and suffering last fall, giving weed seeds the opportunity to germinate and grow.
Though we’ve had crape myrtle bark scale here for some time, I have seen and heard more reports from homeowners about this pest this year. I believe that this bark scale has been able to flourish because of the stressed crape myrtles going into the winter dormancy and the incredible rainfall received as they started this new growing season.
Army worms in pastures and hay meadows also seemed to have made an early appearance. True, I always get caught off guard by how early these “fall” army worms appear, but I think they were much earlier this year than in the past. Additionally, I believe that they were able to gain a larger foothold and cause more damage due to the excessive rainfall.
Scab on pecans was abundantly evident. Home orchards that have never had much of this fungal growth, saw nearly all pecan trees affected by this persistent disease. Adding insult to injury, the dry weather has caused remaining pecans to drop from the abrupt drying of the ground.
As we make our transition out of summer and into the fall, I’m curious as to what the weather patterns are going have in store for us as we wrap up this growing season. Now, I do generally believe in our weather forecasts, but I am nervous about what lies ahead and what problems that may cause.
Looking to the coming days, I love the quote from an old and wise gentlemen who one told me, “Plan for the future? Heck, I don’t even buy green bananas.”
