Greeeeat

[telophase]

It's always something.

1) The plumber came in and fixed the sink problem I posted about a couple of days ago, but noticed that the sink is coming unglued from the bottom of the counter, so we get to call a countertop guy and see if they'll fix it. And until then, we're not putting heavy loads into the sink, so we get to avoid cooking with the (cast iron) Dutch oven, or filling the sink up to soak stuff, or putting a big pot in there and filling it with water for pasta.

2) And then this morning we discovered that one of our crape myrtles has bark scale, a lovely relatively new invasive insect pest (PDF). Wheeeeee!


I have made the Definitive Diagnosis (tm) via Dr. Google, by noting that there are ladybugs on the stem (not visible in pic) attacking the various white things, and ladybugs are apparently a predator of bark scale. Go, ladybugs, go! This pest first showed up in the DFW area about ten years ago and is slowly spreading, so go check your crape myrtles if you're in the South. (More info from citybugs.tamu.edu)

3) On the bright side, WE'RE GOING TO JAPAN. We bought the tickets last night so it's official. :D

Comments

[movingfinger]

I'm not sure the ladybugs are going to make a lot of headway on that... Good luck!

3) WOOO TRAVEL TO JAPAN!!!! Yay!

[telophase]

My entomologist friend says to spray them with a soap water solution (1 Tb liquid hand soap to 1 pt water), so we'll probably do that a few times over the next week or so and see if that works before jumping to insecticides or just cutting off the affected limbs.

That tree's got enough trunks/stems that it can spare a few.

[telophase]

And now that we've got the Japan dates hammered down, we can nail down exactly where we're going so we can book hotels!

[torachan]

Japan, yay! When are you going?

[umadoshi]

Japan! YAY! (And much buuuu to the other things, but JAPAN!)

[lady_ganesh]

Yay for Japan! Boooo for the other stuff. Crape myrtles do not grow here but I have had my share of plumbing pain.

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

I'm...kind of hurt. You didn't need to consult Dr. Google!

But yeah, that's totally CMBS. You can spray the shit out of it with a specialized insecticidal soap, or about a tbsp of liquid hand soap in a pint of water. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05547.html is a good resource on things. Unfortunately, your infestation is advanced enough that the ladybug probably aren't going to be able to take care of it.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'm a librarian! Looking things up is what I do! :D (And I figured you'd weigh in once you saw it. XD)

Thanks! I guess we'll soak it down this weekend and check the other crape myrtles for infestation. I think Toby's leaning towards just cutting the affected limbs off, but I don't know if that's going to work towards spreading it. (I suppose we could spray it, and cut it up on the driveway and spray down the driveway...)

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

1 & 2) My sympathies.

3) Yay!