Sherlock of the Garden

Last night I attended a fantastic seminar sponsored by the Travis County Master Gardeners. Yes, this is a tacky self-serving post because I DO help organize these seminars. But I speak here as an attendee and it was a great seminar. The seminar was taught by MG Susan Decker speaking on plant diseases and Extension Entomologist agent Wizzie Brown, who spoke on insect problems. The goal was to teach gardeners how to recognize certain types of damage so that you could narrow down the source and treat it. Susan covered a huge amount of plant diseases and how to recognize and treat for them. All great info!

Then Wizzie did a great job of simplifying types of insect damage and showing you the possible culprits. A tip I learned last night, if you see chewed damage on leaves and the edges are turned brown, don't bother looking or treating for the culprit because the damage is old and the bug is long gone. If you see chewed leaves and the edges are still green, its fresh and you should look or treat for the caterpillar/beetle,/grasshopper, etc that might have done it.

Good to know. I already feel more sleuthy.

If you're in Austin and you want to attend the Plant Detective seminar, we are holding another one on July 11th at Zilker Botanical Garden at 10am. Free and open to the public.