While I was attending the Wood County Fair the number one question that I was asked by fairgoers was: Are we going to be invaded again by Fall Armyworms?

Last year, home lawns were devoured by Fall Armyworms (Spodoptera frugiperda, family Noctuidae).

The good news is they are not going to appear this year. Dave Shetlar, emeritus entomologist at the Ohio State University, has been moderating Fall Armyworm traps for the adult moths. While the traps have had a couple of moths in them, it does not compare to the hundreds of moths that were on the traps last year. In fact, the moths that are showing up on the traps belong to the Common Fall Armyworm (Mythimna convecta, family Noctuidae)

Though both armyworm moths in the family Noctuidae come up from the south, the common fall armyworms (Mythimna convecta) do not cause the damage to home lawns like their cousin the Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). Our southern states have also reported that they are observing no more than normal activity of the Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda).

Homeowners who are using the soap flush in their yards may have the common Fall Armyworms (Mythimna convecta) come to the surface as well as sod webworm larvae in the genus (Crambus). Though both normally occur in home lawns, their numbers are normally small and do not warrant rushing to a favorite garden center to purchase pesticide controls.

Speaking of home lawns, what is Shetlar’s prediction for beetle grubs? He said it depends. Remember beetle grubs are the larvae of European Masked Chafers (Amphimallon majale), Northern Masked Chafer (Cyclocephala borealis) and Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica). All three of these beetles are in the Scarabaeidae family; therefore, they are known as Scarab beetles.

Though the adult chafers beetles are down this year, the Japanese beetle adults exploded this year across Northwest Ohio. If a lawn has had grub problems in the past, and preventative grub control products were not applied in July, there may still be time to apply products with the active ingredient chlorantraniliprole, common name Acelepryn.

Unfortunately, Acelepryn is exceedingly expensive for most home use applications. Not all is lost, though. If you start seeing grub damage, apply products that have the active ingredient Trichlorfon. A common trade name is Dylox. Dylox is available in several formulations and is readily available at most garden centers.

Another question asked during the fair was why are my crab apples dropping their leaves? Crab apples are in the Rose or (Rosaceae) family. Other plants in the Rosaceae family include apples, pears, quinces, hawthorns, almonds, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and roses. All these plants also have in common leaf spotting fungi known as scab. The scab fungus in the genus (Venturia) proliferated in the spring when the new leaves were forming. The weather conditions that favor scab development is cool wet weather from nine to 17 days. Boy, we had that.

The scab fungus feeds on the chlorophyll of the developing leaves creating the spots on the leaves. Some of the spots merged in a term called coalescing. The coalescing gives the appearance of a sheet of scab lesions. Once the environment changes to drier hotter weather the scab fungus goes dormant and leaves the damaged leaves behind. Leaves with many lesions turn yellow in August and drop early. Normally this does not cause long-term damage to most of the trees and shrubs in the Rose family.

The best way to prevent scab is to plant scab resistant plants; however, this is not always practical in an established landscape. Cultural controls could include raking and composting fallen leaves. Fungicides are applied to the leaves to protect the leaves from fungus attack. Fungicides are applied in the spring or when conditions favor scab development. Fungicides are a pesticide, therefore, applying fungicides now for scab control not only does not control the scab, but it adds another pesticide to our outdoor environment.

There is one more caution in preventing other types of fungal disease that may occur on our maturing vegetable and flower gardens. When applying supplemental water to your gardens, water in the morning preferably before 10 a.m. This allows leaves to dry out before night fall. During the night, the dew point goes up and the temperatures drop. If the leaves are wet going into the evening, the conditions are ripe for disease development. Applying preventative measures not only reduces pesticides in our environment, but it also creates happy plants.