...I know, I know, that title is not a very popular sentiment these days.
But if you're a horticulturalist, arborist, gardener, naturalist, ecologist, or just plain lover of things botanical, you are cheering this ongoing ice-box of a winter. An article in yesterday's NY Times confirms what I have optimistically assumed — this deep-freezing cold is killing our bugs!
Bad bugs, that is. (I'm sure the good bugs will make it since they have evolved to withstand historically colder winters.) Those bad bugs are mostly exotic or displaced species that are attacking our native plants, like southern pine beetles in the New Jersey Pinelands, emerald ash borer, and wooly adelgid, or any of the many other pests that are compromising our northeastern forests.
But lets not forget bad bugs in the managed landscape. This past year saw heavy infestations of scale all around the city, and in the late summer we saw plenty of spider mites — but nothing like the previous year when mites absolutely ran amok — while other persistent pests, like lacebugs, keep coming back year after year. So many of these garden pests have thrived in the recent mild winters, hot summers and repeated droughts. Thankfully, there's nothing quite like a good hard cold-snap to wipe some of these buggers out.
So lets hear it for bone-chilling, face-biting weather. HURRAY, the bugs are dead!
...Or at least dying?
We can only hope.
Severe spruce spider mite damage on a recently planted columnar Norway spruce (Picea abies 'Cupressina'). Spruce spider mites (Oligonychus ununguis) have little obvious effect while the weather remains cool, but once it warms up, the foliage turns brown quickly, and it's too late to save the plant.