Pheno Forecasts
Greetings!

As the insect pest season comes to a close, we hope that the USA National Phenology Network's Pheno Forecasts have informed you on when pests were active in your area.

This year, we sent you email notifications approximately two weeks and again six days before the threshold was reached at your location for the life cycle stage of interest for each species you selected from our list .

We would greatly appreciate your feedback on our Pheno Forecasts, and we would also like to hear if there are other species for which a forecast would help you in your work. Please share your thoughts in this 3-question survey.
Where did observers report on Pest Patrol species this year?
Below, we take a look at where observers reported phenology of these species as part of the Pest Patrol campaign . In the next couple of months, we'll be analyzing how these observations lined up with our Pheno Forecasts, so stay tuned!

In total, 27 observers reported on 9 pest species at 31 sites this year. The most commonly observed species was eastern tent caterpillar, followed by gypsy moth and hemlock woolly adelgid.

The map below shows the sites where observers reported leaf-feeding insects this year. Colors of the dots correspond to the colors of the species across the top, and darker colors represent more data reported at that site. Green outlines indicate that the observer looked for more than one species at that site. The numbers represent the number of phenology records for that species, which include both "yes" and "no" reports for each life cycle stage question (eg "Do you see active adults?").
Taking a closer look at one of these sites which belongs to the group Earthwise Aware in Massachusetts, we can see which life cycle stages were reported this year for eastern tent caterpillar. Observers reported active adults , active caterpillars , and caterpillars in a tent from early May through mid-July, indicated by the colored bars on the calendar below (the "yes" reports). The gray bars indicate the observers looked for that life cycle stage but did not see it (the "no" reports).
The next map shows where observers reported on sap-feeding insects this year.
The top-reported sap-feeding insect this year was hemlock woolly adelgid. The New York State Hemlock Initiative is an effort to engage volunteer scientists in submitting observations on HWA to improve treatment timing for this species. This year, their members reported observations at 4 different sites across New York. Observers started reporting eggs in early April and active crawlers in mid-April. Reports of eggs peaked in late April while reports of crawlers peaked in late May.
For the wood-feeding and fruit-feeding insects, observers reported the absence of these species at several locations but there were no "yes" reports submitted.
In our next message, we will take a look at how our Pheno Forecasts lined up to your reports of activity for these species. This analysis will shine light on how well the forecasts perform in areas that are outside of the locations where the published thresholds were developed. Your observations are making this important work possible!

Did you earn your Pest Patrol badge this year?

You can earn this badge by submitting observations of pests six times in a year. See it on your Observation Deck .
Contact
Kathy Gerst
520-621-1740
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