Tiny insect menace chokes trees across Cape Cod


Its common name the crypt gall wasp is like something out of a horror movie, but for property owners, the evil it wreaks is all too real.


Hordes of the tiny wasps deposit their eggs in the trees' new spring growth. The larvae grow inside the wood and form swelled chambers known as galls.


A year later, the adult wasps measuring only 5 millimeters emerge through pinprick holes in the wood and repeat the cycle over again, cutting off the system that distributes nutrients throughout the tree.


Starved of food, twig growth slows, leaves turn brown and eventually, if the infestation continues unabated, the tree may die.


Even though much is known about the tree killing culprit, much is still a mystery, including whether it is a native or wash ashore.


"So little is known about the life cycle," Russ Norton, educator in horticulture at the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, said.


Norton, who is monitoring a research site in Nickerson State Park in Brewster, and other researchers are working to fill in those gaps.


Recently, workers with Arborjet, a Woburn company that tests and sells tree injection systems and insecticides, took a stand against the crypt gall wasp in Dennis Village Cemetery, a setting seemingly made for the fight against the pernicious pest with the deathly name.


Arborjet is working with University of Massachusetts Amherst professor of entomology Joseph Elkinton and one of his graduate students to study the best ways to deliver insecticide that will stop the wasps in their tracks.


Researchers are not even convinced the species has been correctly identified, Elkinton and Arborjet officials said.


"We're starting from square one with this insect," Elkinton said.


Widespread damage from the wasp became apparent on Martha's Vineyard cheap jerseys a couple of years ago, he cheap nfl jerseys said.


But, while a similar infestation on Long Island crashed after only three years, the outbreak on the Vineyard has lasted longer.


On Cape Cod, property cheap nfl jerseys owners and arborists started seeing widespread damage in 2012.


"You probably don't even see the symptoms for two years," Peter Wild, CEO and founder of Arborjet, said.


At the Dennis Village Cemetery, Arborjet's Don Grosman demonstrated how the injection systems use the tree's vascular system to transport chemicals to fight the wasps, Grosman said.


A small black plug called an arborplug is inserted wholesale nfl jerseys into holes drilled into the trunk, he said.


A needle wholesale jerseys attached to a pressurized reservoir is then connected to the plug, forcing the chemicals into the tree's active tissue. Environmental Protection Agency.


Unlike spraying or other methods, injecting the chemicals keeps them contained within the tree and out of the surrounding environment, Grosman said.


"We pride ourself in that we put everything into the tree," he said.


Even so, only a small amount of each product is required, he said.


For a tree with a 20 inch diameter, only 8 grams of the solution is used, Grosman said.


Although work in Hawaii on a similar infestation ...

Sun Media's team of veteran sports reporters gets the story behind the story


Since it the Christmas season, we step back from the usual content posted to this blog for a nice Aaron Rodgers Kids Jersey little piece that will melt A.J. Hawk Youth Jersey your heart. airman, returned to Germany from deployment in Afghanistan earlier than his son, Justin, expected. Dad figured he surprise his son during his football game in Brussels, Belgium. (Who knew they played football in Belgium?)I mean, the last guy he ever expect A.J. Hawk Jersey to see lining up across from him on the football field was his dad, right?When Justin dad revealed himself during a meeting at midfield, the reaction was priceless. And incredibly touching.In a memorable rant that included adjectives such as and to describe his team, a college basketball bench boss outdid himself by bringing up his wife on multiple occasions.Southern Illinois Salukis coach Barry Hinson went off on his team Tuesday night during a post game press conference. His squad had just lost, 73 65, to the Murray State Racers.There was plenty of yelling and more than one reference to his wife. He also talked at length about a gymnasium who referred to his players as a of mama boys, provided perhaps the top coach quote of the year with this doozie: WIFE, MY WIFE, can score more than two Aaron Rodgers Jersey buckets on 11 shots, because I know my wife will at least SHOT FAKE one time. best of the rest from Hinson performance:Quote that could easily be taken out of contextbeen telling my wife, size doesn matter. that probably sounded better in his heada lot like house training a puppy dog. You know what, when the dog does something wrong taps paper on table bad dog! I not going to hit I not going to swat (but) bad dog, get on the treadmill. that might actually motivate the teamgot men and women serving our country and they don get to take days off. you interested, here a followup from ESPN. Apparently the only thing Hinson regrets about the incident is specifically calling outguard Marcus Fillyaw.North American sports are full of gimmicks.Cheerleaders, TV timeouts and staged NHL fights are just a few of the nonsensical attractions across our sporting landscapeThen, there's the NHL's Girls beauties who clean the surface during stoppages in play.Respectable hockey clubs don't use them.They objectify women and, quite frankly, are paraded around more so for entertainment than ensuring the playing surface is spick and span an important aspect of the game.One Chicago Blackhawks Girl went above and beyond the call of entertainment duty recently.While clearing the snow in front of the net, she forgot crews back in Toronto's War Room where all of the league's video replays go through were watching. Tanking For Wiggins.That, to me, qualifies as pretty damn funny. Right up there with the packersnflofficial.com/Nike-John-Kuhn-Jersey.html Fail for Nail (or Lose for Nuge and Fall for Hall) movement out of Edmonton a couple of years back, a tank job campaign that inexplicably didn create [url=http://www.packersnflofficial.com/Nike-Clay-Matthews-Jersey.h...

New Palmhurst location to offer features not seen at other H


PALMHURST The new H E B supermarket here will have more amenities than most stores, including an expanded bakery and produce section, a wide array of Latino foods and a party center a section not seen in any other of the chain's local stores.


H E B officials and city leaders officially broke ground on the new store near the corner of Mile cheap evening dresses 3 Road and State Highway 107 Friday. At 96,000 square feet, the supermarket will be about as large as an H E B Plus store, but instead of including the extra house wares, clothing, electronics and other merchandise, the additional space will accommodate more food and other features.


"This store will be quite different than other ones we have in the area," said Tony Gonzalez, the director of retail operations in the Rio Grande Valley for H E B.


H E B representatives have been talking to customers in Palmhurst and the surrounding cities for at least a year to figure out how to design the store, Gonzalez said.


The store will have sections specifically for queso fresco, aguas frescas, and guacamole. It also will house a party center a new concept for H E B that will include piatas for purchase, Gonzalez said. The supermarket's "Texas Front Porch" area will offer plants and outdoor furniture for sale.


City leaders boasted that the operation will create 200 more jobs in the area and they already have plans to develop the cheap prom dresses lot next to the future H E B complex.


Palmhurst, with a population of about 2,600, has about 70 stores that employ 1,000 people, said Mayor Ramiro Rodriguez Jr.


The city relies the sales tax revenue as it does not collect property taxes. That lack of property tax is what helped attract H E B, he said.


In 2005, a Wal Mart opened on the northeast corner of Mile 3 and Highway 107 and several smaller businesses opened around it. The location draws shoppers from Palmhurst, as well as nearby cities including Alton, Mission and Palmview.


City Manager Lori Lopez said the city is working toward bringing in another shopping complex next door to the H E B location cheap evening dresses online on the south side of Mile 3 Road, with 40 stores.


"We're hoping within six months, we'll have some kind of development already," said City Councilman Robert Salinas.


Salinas said it's possible the city will offer sales tax rebates, called 380 agreements, to new stores coming in. The city and H E B brokered an agreement that gives H E B a sales tax rebate for the next 10 years.