YHC Beetle Lab Update

This is the first of our monthly updates on the progress of Sasajiscymnus beetle production in the Young Harris College Beetle Laboratory for the year 2008.

I. Brief Statement of Financial Condition

As of January 9, 2008, we have a balance of $33,203 in our Hemlock Project restricted account. Many generous people and groups have given donations to this project since the end of last spring's beetle production period (June 2007). Donations over this period amounted to $4790, and include donations from 10 private individuals. I want to heartily thank these people for their support. . . without you we would not be in the position we are in today! In addition to the private individuals, four groups also provided contributions to our efforts over the last few months, namely Dutch Gold Honey, Inc. ($500), the Enotah Garden Club ($200), the Institute for Continued Learning @ YHC ($1000), and the Lake Winfield Scott Cabin Owners ($1500). Thanks to the generosity of all of these donors, we will be able to hire many students this year, and also finish off the expenses of our move into our new beetlerearing facility. I am hoping with the added student labor (amounting up to 50 hours of labor per week) in combination with our already dedicated volunteer work force, we can hopefully increase our production over last year's numbers.

II. Beetle Production Progress

Much has happened since last June, and as always, there is some good news, and some bad news. First, the good news:

The finishing touches on the new beetle-rearing facility were largely completed over the summer and through the fall of 2007. The beetles finally took up their residence in their new home late in September! There are still a few minor details to work out (we don't have a phone in the new lab yet), but the laboratory has been functioning well. This former faculty residence underwent major changes in order to become an efficient "beetle house". New walls containing insulation had to be installed in the entire perimeter of the house in order to ensure precise climate control. New floors & ceilings were also installed, as well as a new roof and gutters. An entirely new electrical system was installed as well as massive repairs to the back porch that also enabled the house to become handicap accessible. Each rearing room has its own individual climate control and backup heating system. Also, a state-of-the-art water purification system was installed in order to eliminate impurities. In addition to these tasks, many, many other repairs and renovations were also made in the house. These, coupled with the large walk-in cooler that was donated by the U.S. Forest Service, have made our job of raising beetles much easier. I want to take this opportunity to especially thank our Young Harris College maintenance team who spent many, many hours on this project. Gary, Jim, Steve, Keith, Doug, Elston, Justin & the rest of the crew did a top-notch job on this project doing quality work while at the same time keeping expenses far below their initial projections. They took great pride in their work, and were truly committed to making this project happen. I am proud to call them my colleagues and fellow "beetlemaniacs". I also want to thank the Bancker-Williams Foundation, whose $25,000 grant made the renovation possible!

On the 3rd of December, we began placing beetles into their oviposition jars in order to begin egg production. We had an abundance of help in this process. Many students from my Introductory Biology class trapped adult beetles and created hemlock "bouquets" for oviposition jars. Their volunteer efforts made this process a much more pleasurable one than in past years. At the end of this first week Sarah Osicka from the North Georgia College & State University Beetle-rearing lab, along with two of her student assistants helped set up our last set of jars. Sarah & crew also came the following week and logged many hours processing oviposition jars, setting up rearing cages, and performing many other tasks. I am very much indebted to them for their efforts, and am looking forward to (and am actually already enjoying) a collaborative relationship between our labs in order to maximize our efforts to produce beetles for the north Georgia hemlock forests.

Toward the end of December our laboratory received a donation of infested hemlock limbs that were eventually to be used for "feeding" storage cages and rearing cages. Most of these branches were used during the last two weeks of December. Unfortunately, we discovered that these branches had been unknowingly contaminated with insecticide. The result: we lost around 100 of our 450 "breeder" beetles, and most of the remaining beetles that we had in our storage cages were also killed. Several of our rearing cages also received the "tainted" hemlock and we have yet to see how this will affect new adult emergence. This was not a complete disaster, however. Most of the remaining beetles continue to lay eggs at a normal level and we should climb back to our original levels of production hopefully within a month. Unfortunately, this has set us back a bit and could possibly negatively affect our production numbers. I feel, however, that we will offset this loss with the great amount of new student labor in our lab. Once the beetle numbers rebound, we will increase the number of our oviposition jars in order to increase production. Overall, I think things will work out fine. . . and I have learned another valuable lesson. . . be VERY, VERY meticulous concerning hemlock sources!!!! Our laboratory will no longer accept infested hemlock donations except from folks that we know have been trained in collection procedures.

Many questions have been asked about what homeowners can do regarding their own hemlocks. Remember that the biopredatory beetles are not usually a viable option for most homeowners. Predatory beetles survive much better in forest ecosystems and are most likely not as effective in situations where there are only a few landscape trees. Ideally forests that are candidates for beetle release should still contain some relatively healthy hemlock trees that are within the first few years of infestation. The problem with releasing biopredatory beetles on "landscape" trees is that once they have eaten their fill of adelgid, they will fly off in search of other trees and leave your trees. The adelgid may then comeback next year, and you will quite likely be without predatory beetles once again. If beetles are released in denser, continuously forested environments, they will hopefully stay in those areas eventually establishing an equilibrium with the adelgid. The adelgid will never go away, but the hope is that the beetle will eventually help keep it at a sublethal level. The most effective method of control for homeowners is to use either horticultural oil application for smaller trees or the systemic insecticide imidocloprid for larger trees, or a combination of these two treatments. The drawback to imidocloprid is its expense, but once a tree is treated with imidocloprid through soil injection or soil drenching it should be more-or-less adelgid free for 2 years. Because of the expense of imidocloprid, it is sometimes prohibitive for property owners to treat all of their hemlocks. In that case, you may need to select some of the most important hemlocks on your property to treat. Since treatment only needs to occur every two years, you can alternate which hemlocks to treat each year. For more information on chemical treatments, contact either your county agent or your local Georgia Forestry Commission office. Currently we are trying to establish beetle populations in the field, especially in Hemlock Conservation areas designated by the USFS. These areas, along with some public state lands, have been designated as high-priority sites because of their ecological importance. It is important to realize that our limited numbers of beetles are probably barely putting a "dent" in this effort, even in these important areas. As I have said frequently to people, our beetle efforts are currently like putting out a raging forest fire with a garden hose. Our hope, however, is that with more labs coming "on-line", and with increased production in our existing facilities, we may get some populations established in the field in these important areas that may reduce the mortality of hemlock trees. Obviously, since the need is so great, and the availability of beetles so small, we have to operate under the principle of "triage". There are many wonderful forested areas that we will not be able to supply with beetles since we are focusing on those areas that are of the most ecological importance. I am hoping that the public will understand that we cannot spare many beetles, however, there are private laboratories located in Pennsylvania and North Carolina that will sell beetles to people who are interested in releasing beetles onto their property.

III. A Final Word This is an exciting time in our laboratory, despite the setbacks that we experienced over the last few weeks. We will certainly rebound and should be back at our usual production levels within a month. I am very excited about our new student laboratory workers who are already showing great signs of dedication to this project. Thomas Caudell, Angee DelConte, Alan Guilfoyle, Jonathan May, and Emily Parker. Their eagerness and sense of responsibility are a great testament to YHC! We will probably bring on at least a couple of other students who have shown interest in working in the laboratory. Because of our current financial situation, we will be able to bring quite a few students into our labor pool.

I am also very excited about our working relationship with the other two beetle-rearing facilities in Georgia. Sarah Osicka has hit the ground running in her efforts to set up production at NGCSU. Despite our inability to supply her with surplus beetles this month like we anticipated, we will do everything within our power to help their laboratory to become firmly established, including donating our emerging beetles over the next couple of months. Tom Coleman at UGA continues to plow much new ground in our understanding of how biopredatory beetles survive and reproduce in the field. In addition, he has given us much moral support in our efforts. We continue to look forward to further interactions in these studies, and we are ready to help whenever we can.

Our laboratory hours are Monday, Wednesday & Friday from 1:30 - 4 p.m. We do not have a phone yet in our laboratory, but until then if you wish to contact me, you can call me on my cell phone at 706-781- 5946 or my office phone at 706-379-5131. For more information on our project, you can also visit our web page: http://www.yhc.edu/academics/ math--science/yhc-hemlock project.aspx.If you are interested in making a donation to our "beetle project": Checks can be made out to "Young Harris College" with "Hemlock Project" in the memo portion of the check. Checks can be sent to: Dr. Paul T. Arnold, Hemlock Project Director, P.O. Box 68, 1 College St., Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA, 30582.