Landscape Message: Sep 8, 2017

The Landscape Message will be updated bi-weekly July through September. The next message will be posted on September 22. To receive immediate notification when the next Landscape Message update is posted, be sure to join our e-mail list.

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Drought Status: Approximately 80% of Massachusetts is not under official drought status at this time. The 20% classified as 'Abnormally Dry' includes the northernmost portions of Essex county, virtually all of Plymouth and Bristol counties, and the southern 2/3rds of Norfolk county. For more information see http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MA

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http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/RegionalDroughtMonitor.aspx?northeast

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Insects

Amazing Ant Nuptial Flights: On 9/5/2017, ant mating flights were witnessed in a residential landscape in Hampshire County. These spectacular events can be commonplace in not only the early spring, but also the late summer for certain species of ants. To the average observer, such activity might be frightening: especially when, seemingly, as far as the eye can see, thousands upon thousands of these individuals are on the move. Groups of hundreds of ants – wingless workers (all female) and winged sexual forms (the ones doing the mating) – seemed to be pouring out of the ground in clusters on a warm, humid evening, just following a light rain. The glinting reflection of hundreds of flying ants could be seen in the early evening light as they lift from these groups, winged males and females swarming to meet each other to mate. For the males, this is the beginning and the end – they live only long enough to reproduce. The females then disperse, shed their wings, lay their eggs, and shortly thereafter they feed their first generation of larvae.