Sure it's cold outside, but at least there aren't any bugs
To those of you kindred spirits who are tired of January and think "cold" and "snow" are four-letter words, here's good news about winter: no bugs.
Remember mosquitoes? How about those chomping insects that ruined your roses last summer? Where'd they all go?
I began thinking about this when I spotted an errant ant crossing my windowsill a few days ago. He was a little guy, not one of those carpenter ants that eat you out of house and home, so I ignored him. And then I thought maybe that wasn't such a good idea. What do insects do in the winter, anyway?
Donna Danielson, the Morton Arboretum's Plant Clinic assistant, says different species have adopted unique ways of overwintering. Knowing what and when insects emerge from their winter hiatus may help your plants next summer, or at least cause you to look twice at your garden in winter.
A mourning cloak butterfly, for example overwinters as an adult. Imagine the horror - you wake up from your chrysalis and discover your entire adult life must be spent in a Chicago winter. While beautiful as a butterfly, the caterpillars feed in summer on leaves of willow, poplars, elms and hackberries
Gypsy moths are even more voracious. These destructive insects like 450 kinds of trees and, as larvae and caterpillars, chomp leaves with abandon. Heavy infestations can prove devastating to individual gardens or towns with many trees.
Danielson says gypsy moth infestations were particularly bad last year, and may be significant this year.
Gypsy moth eggs won't hatch until April or early May, and in the meantime you can reduce the problem by finding and destroying their eggs. "You can look for egg masses anytime after August," Danielson says.
Gypsy moth egg masses are buff-colored sacs, about 11/2 inches long by 3/4-inch wide. They feel like felt because, "Gypsy moths are good moms and use their own hairs to insulate the sacs," Danielson said.
Good parenting skills aside, the gypsy moth's offspring pose significant threats to your trees. Get rid of the egg masses by scraping them from the tree and dumping the sacs in soapy water.
Egg masses are usually pretty low down on the tree, generally on the trunk or underside of low-lying branches.
Bagworms are another type of garden pest whose potential damage can be averted by destroying the bags in winter. Once primarily a southern pest, bagworms are now more prevalent in the Chicago region.
The caterpillar makes its bag from the tree on which it has been feeding. Hence you'll find cone-shaped cases cleverly camouflaged with pine needles if on a pine tree, or honey locust leaves if on that tree.
Female bagworms, who don't even have eyes, are homebodies who never leave their cases. When a male discovers the case and mates with its hostess, the female lays her eggs right in the case. A single sac may hold between 500 and 1,000 eggs.
Look for the cases in June when the eggs will hatch.
"Cut the bags off instead of pulling," Danielson advises. "The cases are attached with a strong silk and you may damage the plant if you pull."
Other insects have hiding places that can't be disturbed in winter by humans.
Japanese beetles, for instance, go underground; the grubs digging deep to avoid the cold. They pupate in May or June and head for tasty garden snacks like your prized roses, birch, linden, Norway and Japanese maples.
Picking the beetles off individually during the summer is the best method of eradication, although Danielson says some gardeners report success with Neem oil, a bio-pesticide that makes the plant less tasty.
Lurking deep inside trees are the young of such devastating bugs as the Asian long-horned beetle and emerald ash borer. These pests, a relatively new threat to our region, have resisted all control measures to date, and require removal of the tree. There's nothing you can do about them this winter.
So you might as well enjoy the snow, hunt for gypsy moth and bagworm sacs, and dream of gardens to be.
Cathy Jean Maloney writes about nature once a month in Neighbor.