Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / May 26, 1994, edition 1 / Page 18
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Oyster Say Winners Jennie and John Gregory of 516 Woods Court, Oyster Bay, are one of four Sea Trail Plantation Yard of the Month winners for May. The couple has a small vegetable garden along with peach, pear and fig trees, flowers and shrubbery. Does My Lawn Have Ground Pearls? uear Plant Doctor: I have circu lar dead areas in my centipede lawn and have done everything recom mended by Extension brochures. My neighbor says ! have ground pearls in say la**?.. What are ground pearls ???*! 1 mi A >k ? rO uxu uww uu a ?vi a iu ui uivtu . Dear Plant Doctor: I have dead areas in my centipedegrass that grow larger each year. I routinely use insecticides and grub control but that seems to do no good. I left a sample ot sod at the Wilmington of fice for you to examine. What is the problem? Dear Plant Doctor The lawn care service just told me I had ground pearls and that my lawn was doomed to die. What is going on? I have never heard of an insect you could not kill. What is my best next move? Answer: If Stephen King were to write u horror novel sbcut s ia**u in sect pest, ground pearl would be the lead character. All of the above lawns have a common pest: ground pearl. The ground peari (Margarodes meridionalis or related species) is a scale-like, insect that has been recorded on warm season turf grasses from southern California to south eastern North Carolina. Although extremely ra>? in many southern ar eas, the ground pearl is very com mon in the sandy soils of southeast ern North Carolina. The immature ground pearl (nymph form) attaches to and ex tracts juices from the grass root. Damage from this insect is most ap parent during dry spells of when the crrass is under stress from ncrr.s!ods infestation, disease, shade or poor soil fertility. Damage first appears as irregular to round-shaped yellow blotches (two to three feet in diame ter) in the grass sward. These blotches eventually turn brown and die. Severely infested areas will have large patches in which no grass or any other vegetation will grow. Only a handful of scientists have ever studied the ground pearl. The nrst comprehensive study was con ducted at N.C. State University by William Spink in 1958 on home lawns in Wilmington. Spink found no controls for the insect but did record and document the life cycle of this critter. 1 have observed ground pearls feeding on centipedegrass, zoysia grass, bermudagrass and St. Augustinegrass, although damage is usually most severe on centipede - grass. To check for ground pearl in your lawn, take s four- inch diameter plug (three to four inches deep) soil sample at the edge of the infested patch and take the sample (in a plas tic bag) to your county N.C. cooperative extension Officc. Ground Pearl Life Cycle Female ground pearls emerge from the "pearl" stage in early sum mer ? May to July. Females are dark red to pinkish, wingless and about X? to ? inch long and vaguely resemble a miniature slug. The adult females do not appear to feed or have the ability to do so. Once in the soil, the temale se cretes a cottony waxy coat in which she lays approximately 100 eggs. Female ground pearls are "born pregnant" with fertile eggs that do not need the male contribution. Slender six-iegged cigar-shapcu nymphs emerge from the eggs in mid-summer and infest nearby grass rootlets. Once the young insect nymphs initiate feeding, the familiar waxy spherical shape (pearl) devel ops. As the nymphs grow, they shed their old skins and grow a new one, although all "skins" stay attached to the insect. Ground pearls may shed their waxy skins 15 times before reaching maturity. This "skin" makes the ground pearl nearly im pervious to any soil-applied insecti cide. Pearls are hard, globular, yellow IMl-whiic <11 iu n 111C11 Of uiiulu iii diameter. Nymphs over-winter in the pearl stage. Females reach matu rity in the late spring and emerge from their cysls The life cycle of the ground pearl is believed to normally take one year, but scientists report that if dis turbed. the nymph can go dormant and live up to 17 years (or longer) in the soil before emerging. Winged male ground pearls have been ob served emerging from cysis, but are extremely rare and their significance and role is not known. Controlling Ground Pearls No effective control measure ex ists for ground pearl. A vast number of insecticides have been evaluated for ground pearl but no product has ever been shown effective for long-term con trol. The encysted nymph or pearl is product. The female and newly hatched nymph are susceptible to most in secticides, but because emergence snd egg laying is spread over two months, few commercially available insecticides seem to have the persis tence needed for long-term kill. One researcher in Alabama re ported that plots that were noi treat ed with insecticide showed the greatest reduction in ground pearl population. This corresponds to some entomologists' observation that the common ant is the major predator of the ground pearl, thus any product that harms ant popula tions increases the ground pearl pop ulation. Insecticides will not control control pearl; if anything, they can make the inicsiauon in your iawn worse. The best you can do is be sure your lawn is well-watered, properly fertilized and mowed, and that your lawn grass is maintained in a healthy and vigorous condition. I have never seen nor read reports of ground pearl on carpetgrass or bahiagrass. In se vere infestations, the utilization of these grasses or other ground cover (e.g. English ivy, Asiatic jasmine, etc.) may be necessary to maintain a ground cover on your yard. Send your gardening questions or comments to the Plant Doctor, P.O. Box 109, Bolivia NC 28422. 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The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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May 26, 1994, edition 1
18
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