Unwanted Holiday Pests

Making the holidays extra festive with Christmas trees, wreaths, and other greenery is something many of us love. However, invasive insects and noxious weeds can be hiding in our beautiful décor. Learn about these dangerous pests and ways to prevent spreading them into our environment with three Minnesota Department of Agriculture experts. 

Smarty Plants is a podcast of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Visit www.mda.state.mn.us/plants-insects/smarty-plants for more episodes. Look for a new episode of Smarty Plants every month.

Transcript

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Welcome to Smarty Plants, a Minnesota Department of Agriculture podcast, informing citizens about invasive species that affect our environment and agricultural resources. My name is Jennifer Burington, and I will be your host. The upcoming holiday season is a celebratory time with friends and family. However, sneaky pests can be lurking in festive holiday decor, and it is important to know what to look for when buying your holiday greenery this season. With us today to discuss holiday greenery best practices are Patrick Walrath, Plant Health Specialist, Angie Amborn, Pest Detection Supervisor, and Matt Hoffman, Plant Health Regulatory Specialist, all from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Thank you for making time to speak with us. Thanks for having us. And to start, we have Angie, our entomologist with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Plant Protection Division. She's worked for MDA for 10 years. She has a bachelor's degree in biology, a master's in entomology from the university of Minnesota entomology department, and has worked in entomology for over 20 years in Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and here in Minnesota. She currently supervises a team of 10 invasive species specialists. And we have Patrick Walrath. He's a graduate of St. Cloud state university. He has worked with the plant protection division of the Minnesota department of agriculture since 2011. Patrick conducts early detection surveys and is also a seed regulatory official. Most recently, he has conducted surveys in Christmas tree growing farms, looking for invasive insects and plant diseases. And we have Matt. Matt joined the Plant Pest Regulatory Unit in spring of 2021. Prior to his employment with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, he worked for nine years in greenhouse production at a nursery and landscape company in Southern Minnesota. He also worked for six seasons with the Smudgy Moth Program with the Department of Agriculture, and five years as adjunct faculty at the Horticulture Program at Rochester Community and Technical College. Matt has also done invasive species work in the Everglades National Park and throughout the Florida Keys. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having us. All right, to get started, I was looking at buying holiday greenery this year, like wreaths, Christmas trees, and some porch plants from my house. Why should I be concerned about unwanted insect and plant pests? Well, I'll start that one. So one of the reasons that people should be concerned is that we surprisingly in the state of Minnesota get a lot of our Christmas trees our holiday greenery from outside of the state There's a fair bit that is grown in Minnesota But we also do get a lot from other places in the country that are big Christmas tree growing regions. Um, the southeast, um, you know, some of our neighbors to the east, Wisconsin, Michigan. And so there are diseases and insects that do not currently And so they can hitch a ride with those things that are coming into our state. And so, you know, we, they're called invasive insects or noxious weeds, and what that means is that they're not part of our natural ecosystem and they have the potential to cause damage, you know, whether that's economic, agricultural damage, and so those are things that we don't want to see happen. In our state if we can avoid it. And so that's why you should be aware that when you're buying things from outside of our state, that they could be harboring some of these pests. Thanks, Angie. All right. And just give us a little bit of background on what you all do. What roles do each of you play in ensuring holiday greenery is pest free? And why are each of these roles important? I'll go first. Uh, the Plant Protection Division conducts an early detection survey. Uh, at Christmas Tree Growing Farms in Minnesota. Uh, I go out to these farms and enact two methods to identify, uh, if any invasive insects or diseases are present in the trees. Uh, the first thing I do is I, I set up a, a scent baited lure. Um, these, these baited traps target specific insects in specific trees. Uh, the, the trap catches are collected every two weeks. Uh, we take them in, we try to identify and see if any of our target insects are present in there. Uh, the second thing we do, um, I go out and we conduct, uh, visual inspections of all these trees. Uh, we look at fir, we look at spruce, we look at pine. Um, we are looking for, again, specific insects and diseases in there. Uh, and the, and the reason we do these, um, the, the early detection survey is used to see if any of these undesirable insects and disease are present in these Christmas tree farms. We use this survey to try to protect this important industry. We work with these tree farmers and we offer education to help them try to also identify these, uh, before these trees are cut down, taken to people's homes and we try to limit their spread. I would like to add to that that one of the things that Patrick mentioned is really important is that we don't, we don't, We don't target these, um, we don't target our industry because we think that they, you know, are, have something or that they're going to be spreading something. One of the things that we're really trying to do with this survey is to protect our Christmas tree growing industry. We have a fairly robust industry in the state, and so, Back to that first question, why these are important is if something gets into our state and can get established and can overwinter and can start reproducing, it has the potential to really damage people's livelihoods. And that's one of the things that's super important about what we do out in the field. Absolutely. Um, there's a reason we go out and look for these, these invasives prior to them being found in Minnesota. Uh, like I said, it's an early detection survey. So the concept is to try to get out, go through these farms the best we can, look at the trees, use, uh, you know, baited lures for insect traps. To target insects that have not been found in our state yet, to limit their spread and also to, to work with these farmers to help them understand what may be potential, uh, to come in and cause damage on their farms. Like Angie said, mentioned that a lot of Christmas trees and different holiday greenery do come from other parts of our country, some that might have established invasives for us here in Minnesota. So, Myself and about four to six other plant health inspectors, we go out and we visit large wholesale Christmas tree distributors. Retail stores, nurseries, garden centers, also what we call your Christmas tree pop up lots that might be run by your local Boy Scout or Lions Clubs. So what we're doing as we go in, we're looking at the different Christmas trees, wreaths, other holiday greenery, ensuring that none of this product has any invasive pests hitchhiking on them. When we do find plant material that might be infested, we do have the business take that material off sale. And, and like everybody was saying, we're doing this to help keep Invasives out before it even goes to the consumer is, is our goal on that end. Last year, we went out and we conducted over 240, uh, surveys and inspections, and we're able to certify over 42, 000 trees to go out to the consumer. Um, so my role is I'm kind of the coordinator of the, uh, invasive species, the actual surveys that Patrick works on. Um, and then I'm also the entomologist. So when. Uh, Matt and the team is out there doing their inspections and they find something, often times they will check with me and I will help them identify, say, yeah, that's a bad one, no, that's just one of our native ones, that one can just be fine, or, you know, they'll drop specimens off at my house or at the lab and I'll go through them and say, yep, these, these gotta, these gotta get taken off sale, this is not, One of the, uh, insects that we like, um, and then I'll help them, you know, maybe get, if they think they found a disease, um, I'll help them work with our plant pathologist and get her to help us identify if it's a possible invasive disease and how we get those samples analyzed, um, and then I just kind of serve as a, the technical expert for, for all of that kind of work. Nice, you all sound like you have a lot of fun in the holiday, and I guess in the summer is probably when you're out, Patrick, in the fields. Yeah, yeah, I'm out in the field during the growing season, um, and I think Angie made a great point as well, uh, you will find You know, we see all sorts of insects in the trees, um, native ones that we have no concern about. We know they're part of our natural, uh, you know, areas. Um, so, trying to identify those compared to others is exactly where Angie's strength comes in. So it's awesome. Alright, sounds like we already do a lot. Um, what else does the Department of Agriculture do to keep pests from getting into the state through holiday greenery? Good thing about the Department of Agriculture is we do try to educate businesses about new pest detections throughout the entire year. Um, to ensure that they are ordering certified greens, and then when we're out, we're checking to make sure that that product came in with the proper certification. Um, we also educate businesses on how to inspect their own orders for pests of concern. Before they end up offering them to sale, offering them for sale. We also provide businesses with flyers that can help educate their customers on how to properly dispose of their holiday greenery once the season's over. And then I'll add to that. So our unit, um, we are in charge of. The outreach and Jen, you are pretty active in that as well. Um, and one of the things that we do is we kind of run the, the larger campaigns. So we are out there making, you know, we help make those flyers. We put out newsletters, we put out press releases. Um, sometimes we do, you know, media interviews around the holidays as to how to dispose of your holiday greenery, how to properly, you know, inspect it. You know, if you're going to. Pick a Christmas tree up and you get it home and you get it in your house, you might as well take a look at it while you're putting it up and see if there's anything on it. Um, I mean, and there are native, you know, things that can come in as well and, and so we try to get all of that information out to the public, you know, so they know here's something that might be in your tree. If you see this, this is bad. Um, and then we also try to give just best management practices and we work closely with Matt's group on that to get all of that information out to the, to the public and to the growers and the distributors. And to go along with that, we, we do do a lot of work with the Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, giving these recommendations on what people should do with their holiday greenery after the holidays. Um, so we do, we do a lot with other agencies as well too. We all like to. Work together to get the message across. Oh, yeah, it's definitely a collaborative effort. And yeah, let's talk about some of the more specific Pests. What are the most common ones that could be hiding in holiday greenery? Well when I'm out doing my Early detection survey. I'm looking for mobs. I'm looking for beetles Some of these insects have never been found in the United States Other of these insects have never been found in the state of Minnesota When my team and I go out, we are looking for more specific pests that, um, have been commonly found in the past on some holiday greenery products. One would be spongy moth. We're looking for their egg masses. Um, they can be attached to birch poles, uh, wood logs, pots, containers. Uh, we're also, they feed, when those egg masses hatch, they contain hundreds of caterpillars and, uh, they feed on over 300 different species of trees. We're also keeping an eye out for elongate hemlock scale. That's currently not established here in Minnesota. That we look for on fir trees and any holiday product that's made out of fir. Also keeping an eye out for boxwood blight. That's going to obviously be on any product made with boxwood. We see that in a lot of wreaths. One other noxious weed that we do come across once in a while is round leaf bittersweet. Uh, it's bright red and yellow, uh, parts of the berries. They do make for a stunning decoration. But that is a harmful, noxious weed to the Minnesota environment. So I'll just jump in here as the, as the entomologist and say, so for people that don't know what scale insects are, uh, scale insects are, there, there's a couple different kinds of scales, but the ones that we're looking for are called, are typically in the group called armored scales. And so there are these tiny, little, Like they'll look like a little hard speck of dirt on the underside of your needle. Some, some will be on the top, but most of them are on the underside of the needle. And so when you flip it over, if you're examining your tree, it might just look like dirt. But if you take your, like, pinky fingernail or your fingernails and you try to rub it off, dirt will come off. A scale insect will be stuck on the needle because they are, they are attached and they are feeding on the needle. And that's one of the ways that they can cause damages through their, through their feeding. And so they really can render some of the Christmas trees. They can cause chlorosis of the needle, um, and, and they can just make, Your, you know, holiday greenery that you spent your hard earned money on just not as pretty and it not look as good and not last as long. And so that's, for those of you that don't know what scales are, that's what they are. Um, and then boxwood blight is an actual disease, um, that can cause some yellowing of the, of the leaves and some spots on the leaves. So those are the kinds of things that you might want to look for. When you're, you know, when you bring home your holiday greenery and you're looking at it in your own home. And if I do find something on my holiday greenery, what, what should I do? Um, well, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture has a great, uh, hotline and or email address and it is called Report A Pest. Um, and, you know, Jen, you do a lot of work with Report A Pest, so, you know, why don't you give us a little description of what Report A Pest is? Sure, I can do that. All right, so Report A Pest, um, we have A couple of different ways that you can let us know what you are seeing on your holiday greenery, on your Christmas trees, in your porch pots. Um, so if you see something, it's always good to take a picture. Pictures, we are getting very good here at the Department of Agriculture at identifying lots of invasive insects and diseases based on pictures. So if you see something, please take a picture. And then you can either email us at reportapest at state. mn. us Or you can go online to our website, um, at www mda.state.mn us slash report a pest, and you can use our online form. That'll just ask for your name and contact information, and you can upload your pictures right onto the form there, and it'll come right into probably Angie, if it's an insect. Otherwise, it'll go to my coworker, Michelle, if it's a disease on a plant. And they'll take a look at it and they'll let you know, is it something you should be concerned about? Is it something that's native in Minnesota that just has been around for a long time? So those are the couple ways that you can send in a picture to us. If you don't have the ability to take a picture of it or you saw something but you can't, you weren't able to grab a picture fast enough, you can always give us a call. We do have our voicemail line that you can leave us a message and then we can get back to you. The number is 1 888 545 6684. Well, if you can, try to grab a picture, send it in to us, we'll gladly take a look at it and let you know what it is. I guess I would add to that, that for those of you that are out there that are kind of tech savvy, um, if you have apps, um, and you use your phone regularly, there are a couple apps that you can report invasive species on, and not just insects and diseases. Um, there is an app called, um, the Great Lakes Early Detection Network app, is that what it's called now? No, it's called Edmaps. Yep, early detection. Yep, it's called the Edmaps app and it's a really great app because it makes you take a picture. It'll take a GPS point. It walks you through all of the things that we want you to do. Um, and then when you submit it, it will come to the expert in the state who is, you know, who is part of that group that is supposed to, um, do the identification. And you can report aquatic invasive species on there. You can report terrestrial invasive species. You can report animal invasive species. Um, and so it's a really great app. And then even for those of you that, You know, are used to using iNaturalist. Um, the Edmaps app is hooked up to iNaturalist now. So even if you report in iNaturalist, eventually we will get that report into Edmaps. Um, the, the one problem is, is that that's a little bit slower. So we don't always get it in, like, immediately in real time. And so I would encourage you to use Report a Pest or the Edmaps app. Thanks. So other than looking closely at our holiday greenery for tiny little scales, egg masses of some moths, are there other things we should do to prevent unwanted pests from coming home with us? I would say purchase locally grown holiday greenery. I would go to the Minnesota Growing online directory at minnesotagrowing. com and you can search out locations near you. Uh, Minnesota Christmas tree growers produce beautiful holiday greenery. In fact, last year, Happy Land Tree Farms from Sandstone, Minnesota, had the honor of presenting a 10 foot Fraser fir to the Vice President of the United States, uh, that she put in her residence. Um, it was the first time a Minnesota grower Was awarded this honor. Nice. It's happy to hear our trees growing here locally can make it elsewhere as well, instead of just having stuff come into our state. So. I would also add to that, that, so a lot of our Christmas tree farmers also supplement, they grow their own, but they also do supplement their sales by bringing in some product from outside of the state and, you know, some of the trees that are preferred. Christmas trees don't necessarily grow that well here, or they can't grow them fast enough like they can in other parts of the country. And so a lot of growers do bring in extra trees and extra greenery from out other places. And so that's where that self inspection comes in, so you can support your local grower. And then if it's not a tree that you, you know, cut and brought home, and if you bought one that was from outside of the state, just make sure that you take a look at it when you get home, or before you buy it, when you're, when you know, you, everyone's walking around, I mean, I am guilty of this as well. When I go to get my Christmas tree, I look at the form, like, is that one good enough? Mmm, is that one good enough? So while you're looking at that, and if you like the way it looks, take a, take a peek on the underside of the leaves, take a peek around. Do you see anything other than, I You know, a beautifully manicured Christmas tree. If there's some things on there that don't look right, you know, then, then, you know, I mean, and then that's a good opportunity to let your, the person who you're buying from know that. Um, and, and then that helps them also, you know, be an informed, um, you know, person who is selling these trees as well. And then that's where Matt's group comes in. I think that's a great point, not only with the holiday greenery, but the Department of Ag, the Plant Protection Division, we have many knowledgeable people who go out and do this work. But I think to Angie's point, it takes everybody, every citizen of the state of Minnesota to know what they're looking at, to stay informed. And when you do come across those things, Um, report a pest is a, an opportunity to reach out to us, to let us know, to let the farmer know who, who you bought the tree from. All of those I think are very important. We have a beautiful state and we all need to do our part to ensure that our environment stays beautiful and all of us working together, we can keep some of these invasive hitchhikers out. Yes. So after, after the holidays, we've all had our trees up for, well, maybe some longer than others. Maybe not so long for some of us if we forget to get one, maybe? Um, but, for those that are, when we're done with the holidays, um, take the wreaths down, Christmas trees down, porch pots, um, what should we do? What should we do with it? How, how should we dispose of all of these different green greenery? So that's kind of a complicated question, right? Because every, uh, local unit of government, whether you're in a city, whether you're in a township, a county has different regulations on what they want you to do with your Christmas trees, with your wreaths. Um, and so, Obviously, like, a good option, if you can, is to burn it in your fire pit. That being said, many, many local units of government, especially at that time of year, have regulations for, you know, the Pollution Control Agency, for air quality, different types of, uh, Regulations on if you can burn or not, and so we really want people to pay attention to what your local regulations are. Do they want you to put it in the trash out on the corner, and then it goes, you know, to the local, it goes to the landfill? Or do they want it composted? There's different, you know, types of regulations. And so you really need to be informed. And that's part of where we come in. We will, uh, do outreach to the public on, you know, just reminding you to pay attention to what your local regulations are. Um, so some things go in the trash. What we don't want you to do is to take that Christmas tree and just throw her out back and leave it there until spring, because some of these pests, we don't know if they can actually survive. In the winter in Minnesota, and so if you have something on there, and it makes it through the winter, there is a chance that it could come out, it could emerge, and then it could go on to become established in Minnesota. And so that's where that danger really comes in. And so what we really want people to do is pay attention to your local regulations. Yeah, I noticed that some of the cities will have designated weekends for Um, an area where everybody can bring their Christmas trees. Um, and then other things like wreaths. A lot of that has a lot of metal stuff in there, some plastic. If you have, depending on what you add to the Christmas wreath, besides just the greenery. Um, so yeah, definitely pay attention to your, what your local unit of government is telling you. What your options are And some of that stuff when you buy a wreath some of those Actual the the forms that they make the reason are reusable and if you're if you can Yeah, I mean I have two that I've been reusing for like three years So you can just reuse that stuff the decorations can come off you can you know Pull the bows up pull off the whatever's else on there. Maybe you can reuse some of that stuff So just being you know responsible with with your holiday greenery is is really important. Perfect Well, I thank everybody for, uh, joining us here today, and I look forward to heading out to the local Christmas tree farm with my kids and looking for a tree and looking, uh, I'll, I'll put them on inspecting it pretty well. They're pretty short. They're a little bit shorter to the ground. They can look at those bottom branches for those little specks of dirt. All right. Well, thank you, everybody. Uh, thanks for helping us get prepared for the upcoming holiday season and teaching us ways to ensure our holiday greenery is pest free. I certainly learned a lot and I'm sure our listeners did too. This has been Smarty Plants, a podcast from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Our producer is Brittany Raveill. Our editor is Larry Schumacher and I have been your host. You can learn more about pests and other invasive species that affect our environment at www. mda. state.mn.us. And while you head to our website, we'll be working on the next episode of Smarty Plants. See you there!