1 00:00:00,100 --> 00:00:05,700 Ping Yu: (on-hold music) Hello, everyone. 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:12,720 Welcome to the Blooms and Beyond podcast, a podcast that uncovers plant history, culture, and management through the lens of science. 3 00:00:13,260 --> 00:00:14,180 I'm your host, Ping. 4 00:00:14,780 --> 00:00:15,860 How's everyone doing today? 5 00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:22,740 As a plant person, I admit that I enjoy plants more than just about anything in the whole world. 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,300 But let's be honest, the life of ornamental plant isn't just all sunshine and chlorophyll. 7 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:36,300 Just like us human, um, they've got plenty of obstacles to, to face before they can shi- show off their beauty. 8 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:43,280 And one of the biggest challenging, uh, or troublemaker are pests. 9 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:47,660 Yes, the, um, invited party crackers of the plant world. 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:54,350 So today's, uh, star pest really know how to make their entrance, the red-headed flea beetles. 11 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,040 Now, don't let the name fool you. 12 00:00:57,100 --> 00:01:02,000 It isn't funky rock band, uh, like The Beatles or a quirky superhero. 13 00:01:02,390 --> 00:01:09,380 They are tiny, hoppy, and a leaf-chewing menace that puts plants through the ultimate makeover challenge. 14 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,600 The results of those, um, except the results aren't really pretty. 15 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:19,120 And a lot of growers know them well, maybe a little bit too well. 16 00:01:19,660 --> 00:01:29,800 So in today's episode, we got Dr. Shimat Joseph, an entomologist, to chat about the, uh, flea beetles, what they like and how to s- spot them out, 17 00:01:30,020 --> 00:01:35,220 what makes their beauty choice, and more importantly, some of the ways to manage them. 18 00:01:36,020 --> 00:01:45,240 So grab your magnifying glasses, maybe a cup of coffee, and get ready because we're going to hop into the world of red-headed flea beetles. 19 00:01:45,740 --> 00:01:51,240 I don't wanna steal any more thunder from our speaker today, so let's jump r-right into it. 20 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,500 Without further ado, here is my conversation with Dr. Shimat Joseph. 21 00:01:55,740 --> 00:01:57,020 I hope you enjoy. 22 00:01:57,039 --> 00:02:02,780 (on-hold music) So hello, Dr. Shimat Joseph. 23 00:02:02,810 --> 00:02:04,260 Welcome to the podcast. 24 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,940 First, uh, first of all, let's start off, uh, with the introduction. 25 00:02:08,060 --> 00:02:12,480 Can you tell us, the audience, a little bit about what you-- who you are and what you do? 26 00:02:13,060 --> 00:02:13,240 Shimat Joseph: Sure. 27 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:20,980 So my name is Shimat Joseph, and, uh, I am an associate professor, uh, with Department of Entomology, University of Georgia. 28 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:21,320 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 29 00:02:21,829 --> 00:02:27,020 Shimat Joseph: Uh, so I work with, uh, insect problems, uh, in turf and ornamentals. 30 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:36,680 Uh, since I have ornamentals, I work in nurseries and the landscape system where the pests are, uh, know, big problem, you know. 31 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:46,960 So in, uh, nurseries, I work with a variety of insects pests, but the main one that I focus at this moment is, uh, red-headed flea beetles. 32 00:02:47,180 --> 00:02:57,340 This beetle was brought to my attention when I started the job here, and, uh, what I realized is that very less work been done with on this 33 00:02:57,380 --> 00:02:57,720 pest. 34 00:02:57,900 --> 00:02:58,220 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 35 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:05,140 Shimat Joseph: Um, the work, and I mean that, uh, the research that the growers need to manage this pest. 36 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:06,580 Ping Yu: Yeah. 37 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:16,680 So, uh, can you tell us about what first sparked your interest in horticulture or in the pest, and how do you come up-- how did this come into your 38 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:18,200 radar in the first place? 39 00:03:19,060 --> 00:03:22,440 Shimat Joseph: Well, um, I did my bachelor's in agriculture. 40 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:23,000 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 41 00:03:23,340 --> 00:03:29,220 Shimat Joseph: So I had opportunity to, um, see all different disciplines in agriculture. 42 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:30,500 That includes entomology. 43 00:03:30,820 --> 00:03:31,100 Ping Yu: Oh, yeah. 44 00:03:31,580 --> 00:03:41,700 Shimat Joseph: So I kind of, uh, over the years, like it's a four-year degree program, and, uh, towards like third or fourth year, I started developing interest in horticulture, also 45 00:03:41,740 --> 00:03:42,980 entomology. 46 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:47,680 The two areas that I liked, and entomology for sure I liked it, uh, the most. 47 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:56,040 Ping Yu: (chuckles) So how-- what about, like you, how long have you been here at the UGA as a, um, entomologist for ornamentals? 48 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,560 Shimat Joseph: So I started, uh, in 2017. 49 00:03:59,740 --> 00:04:00,040 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 50 00:04:00,180 --> 00:04:01,859 Shimat Joseph: So it's, uh, about eight years now. 51 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:02,420 Ping Yu: Okay. 52 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:03,730 Shimat Joseph: So I am, uh, with UGA. 53 00:04:04,100 --> 00:04:04,360 Ping Yu: Okay. 54 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:04,680 Shimat Joseph: Yeah. 55 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:13,820 Ping Yu: Uh, now let's move more into the pest and how-- can you tell us a little bit about the pest and what does it look like and how do they 56 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,399 behave out there in the, in the ornamental world? 57 00:04:17,899 --> 00:04:18,100 Shimat Joseph: Right. 58 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:19,740 I would just start with its name. 59 00:04:19,940 --> 00:04:20,220 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 60 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:21,940 Shimat Joseph: It's called red-headed flea beetle. 61 00:04:22,180 --> 00:04:22,320 Ping Yu: Yeah. 62 00:04:22,420 --> 00:04:24,940 Shimat Joseph: So there's two component, three components, I would say. 63 00:04:24,979 --> 00:04:26,800 (chuckles) One is they're red. 64 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:27,300 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 65 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:32,200 Shimat Joseph: So they have a red tinge in their head (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) the for-- in the forehead area. 66 00:04:32,340 --> 00:04:32,480 Ping Yu: Yeah. 67 00:04:32,969 --> 00:04:34,270 Shimat Joseph: And that's why we call it red. 68 00:04:34,310 --> 00:04:38,120 It's a red tint, so that's where the red, redness come into play (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) in the name. 69 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:39,480 It's a flea beetle. 70 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:40,040 Ping Yu: Yeah. 71 00:04:40,180 --> 00:04:50,420 Shimat Joseph: So flea beetles, flea beetles usually have a elongated or a kind of stronger leg, I would say hind leg or rear leg, and that leg is basically 72 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:51,580 allowing them to jump. 73 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:52,240 Ping Yu: Okay. 74 00:04:52,270 --> 00:04:56,420 Shimat Joseph: And that's why the flea, the jumping behavior (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) that's why they call it flea beetles. 75 00:04:56,500 --> 00:04:56,550 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 76 00:04:56,590 --> 00:04:57,600 Shimat Joseph: And they're a beetle. 77 00:04:57,660 --> 00:04:57,900 Ping Yu: Oh, yeah. 78 00:04:58,220 --> 00:05:00,440 Shimat Joseph: So beetles, basically they're chewing mouthpart. 79 00:05:00,900 --> 00:05:04,080 They feed and they munch on the plant, uh, uh, leaf tissue. 80 00:05:04,300 --> 00:05:13,240 So this is, uh, uh, came to me, my attention when I started the job, when I visited the nurseries, where growers just showed me this damage, and they already 81 00:05:13,300 --> 00:05:13,460 know. 82 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:14,080 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 83 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:23,640 Shimat Joseph: So when they ask- I asked them and they basically listed this is number one problem for them that they are dealing with for years and they need solution to 84 00:05:23,660 --> 00:05:24,820 it, you know? 85 00:05:24,900 --> 00:05:29,460 So this pest is, uh, like a beetle (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and it feeds on the plants. 86 00:05:30,070 --> 00:05:37,900 And, uh, it's basically, in this p- particular beetle, they feeds on the, the surface of the leaf, and they basically rasp these leaves. 87 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:39,040 They basically gnaw it. 88 00:05:39,620 --> 00:05:45,240 And, uh, in that process they remove the cell, uh, the cells and tissue on the leaf. 89 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:45,840 Ping Yu: Okay. 90 00:05:46,020 --> 00:05:53,480 Shimat Joseph: And with time what happens is that, that the area that they fed becomes sunken and, uh, disintegrates and becomes holes. 91 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:53,960 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 92 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,660 Shimat Joseph: And if they feed multiple times, it becomes like a shot hole. 93 00:05:57,700 --> 00:06:00,600 So you'll see the leaf kind of lot of shot holes on the leaves. 94 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:05,400 And that is basically appears like a, uh, skeletonization. 95 00:06:05,780 --> 00:06:10,080 Because you see the leaves has a, uh, veins and other areas, right? 96 00:06:10,450 --> 00:06:17,880 They start feeding on the e- the areas between the veins, and if there are a lot of feeding going on, the leaf look like skeletonized. 97 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:18,039 Ping Yu: Okay. 98 00:06:18,060 --> 00:06:19,300 Shimat Joseph: Only their veins remain. 99 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:19,700 Ping Yu: Okay. 100 00:06:19,860 --> 00:06:22,120 Shimat Joseph: And with time, that leaf will fall. 101 00:06:22,900 --> 00:06:25,760 So in nursery world, this is not acceptable, right? 102 00:06:25,820 --> 00:06:25,960 Ping Yu: Y- yeah. 103 00:06:26,020 --> 00:06:27,480 Shimat Joseph: Because they had to sell the crop. 104 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:28,640 Ping Yu: Especially in ornamental. 105 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:29,200 Shimat Joseph: Correct. 106 00:06:29,220 --> 00:06:29,400 Ping Yu: Yeah. 107 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,880 Shimat Joseph: Yeah, everything needs to be clean as much as possible if we're to sell it. 108 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:35,000 So that is the challenge here. 109 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:35,480 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 110 00:06:35,500 --> 00:06:37,640 Shimat Joseph: So these beetles feeds on that as adult. 111 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:37,880 They... 112 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:41,540 When they mate, uh (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and they start going into the soil. 113 00:06:42,020 --> 00:06:42,140 Ping Yu: Okay. 114 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,700 Shimat Joseph: In this case, it is a container with a growing medium in there. 115 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:46,000 Ping Yu: Yeah. 116 00:06:46,220 --> 00:06:48,820 Shimat Joseph: So we have pine bark as a main. 117 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,360 That's what predominantly growers here use. 118 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:57,600 Well- they start laying eggs, and the eggs hatch, uh, with whatever time, depending on temperature. 119 00:06:57,660 --> 00:06:58,080 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 120 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,340 Shimat Joseph: And the larvae just start feeding on the roots. 121 00:07:01,660 --> 00:07:02,040 Ping Yu: Okay. 122 00:07:02,100 --> 00:07:09,100 Shimat Joseph: So they start re- feeding on the roots, and they go through about three weeks like that, and they molt into a stage called pupa. 123 00:07:09,380 --> 00:07:09,560 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 124 00:07:09,620 --> 00:07:10,780 Shimat Joseph: That's basically a resting phase. 125 00:07:11,060 --> 00:07:13,520 Again, that's happening in the, in the pot itself. 126 00:07:13,580 --> 00:07:13,980 Ping Yu: In the soil. 127 00:07:14,049 --> 00:07:16,440 Shimat Joseph: so- the growing media of (Ping Yu: Yeah) container. 128 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:21,820 And after, like, couple of weeks, they emerge out as adults, mate, and the cycle continues. 129 00:07:22,100 --> 00:07:22,760 Ping Yu: Okay. 130 00:07:25,980 --> 00:07:36,120 So, um, for anyone who's listening who does not know anything about entomology or, um, as a layperson, how do you tell them, like, 131 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:38,340 what does this pest look like? 132 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:43,000 How do you tell them apart and this is the insect, this is not. 133 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:52,420 So can you tell our audience and how you tell this pest apart from other normal pests, like ants or roach? 134 00:07:52,660 --> 00:08:02,840 Like, people would know 'cause we already covered the red he- the red head part, but what about the main, uh, common 135 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:08,820 characteristic that a layman or not a pest people would know? 136 00:08:08,980 --> 00:08:09,740 Shimat Joseph: That's a good question. 137 00:08:10,300 --> 00:08:11,980 So yes, this is- they are beetles. 138 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,160 So beetles have a hard exoskeleton, meaning hard covering. 139 00:08:16,420 --> 00:08:16,680 Ping Yu: Okay. 140 00:08:16,780 --> 00:08:18,680 Shimat Joseph: So insects are unlike us. 141 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:20,420 They have a outer shell. 142 00:08:20,860 --> 00:08:21,380 Ping Yu: Okay. 143 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:22,980 Shimat Joseph: And they are segmented. 144 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:23,230 Ping Yu: Yeah. 145 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:23,460 Shimat Joseph: Right? 146 00:08:23,780 --> 00:08:23,900 Ping Yu: Yeah. 147 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,200 Shimat Joseph: So insects, you're right, they have three pairs of legs. 148 00:08:27,660 --> 00:08:27,860 Ping Yu: Oh, yeah. 149 00:08:28,020 --> 00:08:32,700 Shimat Joseph: And, uh, in this case, they have a pair of antenna (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and, uh, two pairs of wings, right? 150 00:08:32,940 --> 00:08:33,200 Ping Yu: Okay. 151 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:33,460 Yeah. 152 00:08:33,490 --> 00:08:39,359 Shimat Joseph: And the first pair of wings is basically hardened, and they basically, they use that for protection of the body. 153 00:08:39,680 --> 00:08:39,960 Ping Yu: Okay. 154 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:42,000 Shimat Joseph: And that's basically in the back, usually. 155 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:42,200 Ping Yu: Yeah. 156 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,440 Shimat Joseph: And they have the, the second pair that is more filamentous. 157 00:08:46,940 --> 00:08:55,420 And when they're in flight, they open up the upper, the, the front or fore wing (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) up and the hind wing, the, the wing that is beneath that (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) 158 00:08:55,460 --> 00:08:56,760 it expands and they fly. 159 00:08:57,300 --> 00:08:58,440 That's how the beetles are. 160 00:08:58,480 --> 00:08:58,920 Ping Yu: Okay. 161 00:08:59,100 --> 00:09:09,240 Shimat Joseph: And all the beetles, unlike other hemipterans or other bugs that you're talking about, like, they have a straw-like mouthparts and, you know, some has a, a rasping-type mouthpart. 162 00:09:09,260 --> 00:09:09,500 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 163 00:09:09,660 --> 00:09:17,360 Shimat Joseph: And you might have seen lapping mouthpart with honeybees and (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) so all the different is involved in their, how they habit and where they feed and things like that. 164 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:19,959 For beetles, they have chewing mouthpart. 165 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:20,279 Ping Yu: Okay. 166 00:09:20,340 --> 00:09:21,969 Shimat Joseph: So we call it biting and chewing mouthpart. 167 00:09:22,060 --> 00:09:25,260 Ping Yu: Kinda like the mo- mosquitoes where they have the- Shimat Joseph: Mosquitoes, no. 168 00:09:25,860 --> 00:09:27,719 Shimat Joseph: (laughs) Mosquito has a straw-like mouthpart. 169 00:09:27,860 --> 00:09:28,660 Ping Yu: Oh, okay. 170 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:29,020 Shimat Joseph: Right? 171 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:34,660 So their body mouthparts are kind of developed into a straw (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) inside we have needles. 172 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:35,120 Ping Yu: Yeah. 173 00:09:35,130 --> 00:09:38,480 Shimat Joseph: So in, in mosquito, in this case, we have six needles in there. 174 00:09:38,540 --> 00:09:38,770 Ping Yu: Oh, okay. 175 00:09:38,770 --> 00:09:41,860 Shimat Joseph: That i- so when they do that, they basically insert these needles. 176 00:09:42,050 --> 00:09:43,960 We call it stylets (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) that's what we call it. 177 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:50,700 And they arrange this, uh, six needles in such a way that they can inject saliva into the system. 178 00:09:50,980 --> 00:09:51,130 Ping Yu: Yeah. 179 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:52,220 Shimat Joseph: Could be a plant in... 180 00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:57,950 or it could be [VERIFY: unclear term, sounds like "phytosis"] the cell tissue, and they pre-orally digest it and suck it up. 181 00:09:58,540 --> 00:09:59,200 Ping Yu: Okay. 182 00:09:59,440 --> 00:09:59,520 Shimat Joseph: Yeah. 183 00:09:59,640 --> 00:09:59,860 Ping Yu: Okay. 184 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:01,280 Shimat Joseph: So they're basically munching it. 185 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,280 They are basically eating the tissue as such into their body. 186 00:10:05,620 --> 00:10:05,860 Ping Yu: Okay. 187 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:06,840 Shimat Joseph: And that's how they're feeding. 188 00:10:06,900 --> 00:10:09,620 So they have mandibles that's used for crushing it. 189 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:10,070 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 190 00:10:10,110 --> 00:10:17,259 Shimat Joseph: They crush the tissue, and they basically ingest everything rather than, uh, digesting it pre-orally or anything like that. 191 00:10:17,340 --> 00:10:17,350 Ping Yu: Uh-huh. 192 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:17,740 Okay. 193 00:10:17,860 --> 00:10:24,620 So for the, a flea beetle, they have, like three pair of legs and one pair of antenna, and they're... 194 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:31,710 The main difference is that they have a, a hard shape- hard shell that can protect them from- (Shimat Joseph: Yeah.) 195 00:10:31,740 --> 00:10:32,920 Shimat Joseph: That is true for all the beetles. 196 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:33,350 Ping Yu: Yeah, yeah. 197 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:34,840 Shimat Joseph: This is all true for all the beetles. 198 00:10:35,060 --> 00:10:35,339 Ping Yu: Yes. 199 00:10:35,780 --> 00:10:45,860 Now, back to the, uh, red-headed flea beetle specific, what, how, what kind of plant that they like the best the 200 00:10:45,940 --> 00:10:46,320 most? 201 00:10:46,700 --> 00:10:55,020 And are they chewing, like, flowers and- or, um, newly leaves or any, like, specific parts of the plant? 202 00:10:55,460 --> 00:10:56,840 Shimat Joseph: Yes, that's a very good question. 203 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:07,340 For red-headed flea beetles, um, you know, has evolved the way that they can handle, um, the chemicals in the plant (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and the phytochemicals, and they can tackle 204 00:11:07,380 --> 00:11:09,380 multiple plants in different families. 205 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:16,040 So we know that they can feed over 50 plant species, and that comes in different families. 206 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:16,340 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 207 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:16,480 Shimat Joseph: Okay? 208 00:11:16,860 --> 00:11:24,640 So that kind of shows how versatile they are and their ability to tackle the toxics that's present, toxin that's present in the plant (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) the phytotoxins. 209 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:27,480 So these insects are polyphagous in that way. 210 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:29,470 We call it polyphagous, poly meaning many. 211 00:11:29,740 --> 00:11:29,980 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 212 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:31,600 Shimat Joseph: So they can eat many plants. 213 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:31,980 Ping Yu: Okay. 214 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:41,940 Shimat Joseph: And that's one reason this is a dangerous pest in ornamental system (Ping Yu: Yes) because when you go to nursery, you have all different plants and different families, and they are 215 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:48,580 have a capability to go and attack any plant that is present and still complete their life cycle. 216 00:11:48,860 --> 00:11:49,260 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 217 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:49,620 Yeah. 218 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,880 Shimat Joseph: That's why they are seen as the most kind of serious problem in nurseries. 219 00:11:54,380 --> 00:11:54,520 Ping Yu: Yeah. 220 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:55,040 Okay. 221 00:11:55,180 --> 00:12:01,520 So can you give us some examples of the, uh, of the plant that they are feeding on and causing damage? 222 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:10,500 Like, I know, like they, you guys have done work on, um, um, hydrangea pa- paniculata, so I assume that's one of the ma... 223 00:12:10,950 --> 00:12:18,870 I don't know if it's a major host plant or, uh, or just a, a normal host plant, but can you give us a little bit more, like, examples of 224 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:21,700 what kind of plants that do those pest (Shimat Joseph: Yeah). 225 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:22,600 Shimat Joseph: You're really right. 226 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,540 Panicu- panicled hydrangea, uh, that is paniculata. 227 00:12:26,700 --> 00:12:26,970 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 228 00:12:26,970 --> 00:12:31,260 Shimat Joseph: Hydrangea paniculata is one of the main one (Ping Yu: Okay) because we grow a lot of that now. 229 00:12:31,820 --> 00:12:35,700 And at a, you know, it is a, it's a main crop for a grower. 230 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:35,980 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 231 00:12:36,020 --> 00:12:41,470 Shimat Joseph: So if you go to any wholesale or any retail nurseries, this is a very wanted kind of plant now. 232 00:12:41,500 --> 00:12:41,690 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 233 00:12:41,940 --> 00:12:43,000 Shimat Joseph: So it is a high demand. 234 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:44,960 So that is a main major crop. 235 00:12:45,380 --> 00:12:51,220 In addition to panicle hydrangea, they go after weigelas, forsythias, hollies, different kinds of hollies. 236 00:12:51,300 --> 00:12:51,520 Ping Yu: Okay. 237 00:12:51,580 --> 00:12:59,680 Shimat Joseph: But we see majority in, uh, Japanese ma- hollies (Ping Yu: Okay) a lot, Iteas, uh, sweetspire, Virginia sweetspire, whatever you call it. 238 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:05,140 So there are many, many sp- plants like that, but we see only this problem in container nurseries though. 239 00:13:05,820 --> 00:13:10,160 So we did (Ping Yu: Okay) some work in the past where we were kind of wondering where they're coming from. 240 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:20,700 So in that time, there was a notion that they're coming from the landscape surrounding the nursery, and they're flying in, start feeding on the, the weeds that's grow on 241 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:26,359 the edges (Ping Yu: Uh-huh) the field, and they gradually come into the field, kind of an invasion kind of scenario. 242 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:26,680 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 243 00:13:26,940 --> 00:13:32,490 Shimat Joseph: But we did our work, and based on our work, what we feel now is not, that's not true entirely. 244 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:36,840 Maybe it's happening to an extent, but it's not truly the major driver. 245 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:37,160 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 246 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:39,160 Shimat Joseph: Uh, it's major driver is the nursery itself. 247 00:13:39,970 --> 00:13:47,100 They are in the nursery, and what we learned is that they like this environment that we provide as in a container. 248 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,800 So container itself is well-drained (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and water is not stagnant there. 249 00:13:50,860 --> 00:13:52,400 It moves very fast. 250 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:59,060 And that environment that we provide is their favorite environment, and that's where they like to stay and grow. 251 00:13:59,100 --> 00:14:00,400 That's why we don't see them in the... 252 00:14:00,470 --> 00:14:05,000 When we did our samples in the landscapes, we didn't see them at all there. 253 00:14:05,060 --> 00:14:09,640 So and we haven't heard red-headed flea beetle as a problem in the landscapes too. 254 00:14:09,740 --> 00:14:18,660 So we are more told, uh, kind of, uh, ti- kind of thinking at the point is this is a problem, it's a nursery problem, container nursery problem, and not 255 00:14:18,700 --> 00:14:19,280 in the landscape. 256 00:14:19,740 --> 00:14:29,800 Ping Yu: Just because they, you, you guys believe that the, the red-headed flea beetle likes the container environment more often, more than the 257 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:30,520 landscape? 258 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:35,540 Uh, so back to your point, where does the plant come from? 259 00:14:35,620 --> 00:14:42,360 Do you think it's already rested in the container itself or, or in the soil or...? 260 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:44,920 Okay, so you think it's in the soil. 261 00:14:45,660 --> 00:14:48,360 Shimat Joseph: So this is a native, native species. 262 00:14:48,460 --> 00:14:48,469 Ping Yu: Okay. 263 00:14:48,500 --> 00:14:50,660 Shimat Joseph: So we believe that it's present in North America. 264 00:14:51,100 --> 00:14:51,400 Ping Yu: Okay. 265 00:14:51,469 --> 00:14:53,240 Shimat Joseph: Um, and they like water. 266 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:55,320 It is not dry conditions they won't do well. 267 00:14:55,740 --> 00:14:55,960 Ping Yu: Okay. 268 00:14:56,020 --> 00:14:57,580 Shimat Joseph: So the larvae has to be in the soil. 269 00:14:57,920 --> 00:14:58,060 Ping Yu: Okay. 270 00:14:58,100 --> 00:15:01,720 Shimat Joseph: So we know that, uh, they need a little bit wet conditions. 271 00:15:01,820 --> 00:15:02,020 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 272 00:15:02,090 --> 00:15:10,180 Shimat Joseph: And if you look at some of the crops that we grow, for example, cranberries (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) cranberries in north, they grow in more wet, marshy conditions. 273 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:10,620 Ping Yu: Yeah. 274 00:15:10,650 --> 00:15:12,000 Shimat Joseph: And they like that of conditions. 275 00:15:12,460 --> 00:15:14,700 The same time they don't want like swamp conditions. 276 00:15:14,879 --> 00:15:15,120 Ping Yu: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 277 00:15:15,140 --> 00:15:16,060 Shimat Joseph: They want well too. 278 00:15:16,140 --> 00:15:16,300 Ping Yu: Okay. 279 00:15:16,340 --> 00:15:22,600 Shimat Joseph: They need level of drainness and the same time a moisture retention is needed for them to be successful. 280 00:15:22,900 --> 00:15:22,950 Ping Yu: Okay. 281 00:15:22,990 --> 00:15:31,340 Shimat Joseph: And I think the containers in the nurseries are providing exactly that, and they just love it and they just stay there and continue their population. 282 00:15:31,860 --> 00:15:42,260 Ping Yu: So you think that the red-headed flea beetles are already in the, well, container nursery somewhere and resting and until the container 283 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:52,860 production system installed and have that f- have their favorable environment, which the, uh, which is kind of like a wet condition and they start to 284 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,380 survive and then become a problem for, (Shimat Joseph: Yeah.) 285 00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:01,280 Shimat Joseph: Maybe it's waiting from a field situation (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) somewhere and got into the nursery in the beginning. 286 00:16:01,290 --> 00:16:01,390 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 287 00:16:02,020 --> 00:16:09,150 Shimat Joseph: And as we do the trade and nursery production (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) we move plant materials from nursery to nursery, region to region. 288 00:16:09,180 --> 00:16:11,220 In that process, maybe they got spread everywhere. 289 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:12,680 Ping Yu: Okay. 290 00:16:12,860 --> 00:16:17,320 Shimat Joseph: And they're basically using that as a niche, their niche habitat right now. 291 00:16:17,380 --> 00:16:17,780 Ping Yu: Okay. 292 00:16:18,020 --> 00:16:19,380 Shimat Joseph: And, uh, they're thriving there. 293 00:16:19,660 --> 00:16:19,840 Ping Yu: Yeah. 294 00:16:20,310 --> 00:16:30,760 So (instrumental music) So you kind of briefly mentioned the life cycle of this pest and they go through, um, they have the larval 295 00:16:30,820 --> 00:16:34,880 stage and pu- the pupa in the soil and then they become adult. 296 00:16:34,980 --> 00:16:39,259 Do you have the second instar or just like other, um, pest? 297 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:45,480 Or like can you give us a more like a brief introduction of its life cycle? 298 00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:51,520 Um, what kind of conditions and then how long does the life cycle for the pe- for the pest? 299 00:16:52,020 --> 00:16:55,460 Shimat Joseph: So it starts off with, uh, a-adults laying eggs. 300 00:16:55,780 --> 00:16:55,790 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 301 00:16:55,820 --> 00:17:02,380 Shimat Joseph: And they happen to be laying eggs inside the soil, so they can lay on the surface all the way down to like 10 centimeters deep. 302 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:03,140 Ping Yu: Oh, okay. 303 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:03,850 Shimat Joseph: Can go that deep. 304 00:17:04,420 --> 00:17:05,280 So eggs are laid there. 305 00:17:05,940 --> 00:17:08,440 Now, eggs will hatch into the first instars. 306 00:17:08,479 --> 00:17:08,740 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 307 00:17:08,759 --> 00:17:09,640 Shimat Joseph: The first instar larvae. 308 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,200 And the way things work is that insects grow inside the shell. 309 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:14,620 Ping Yu: Okay. 310 00:17:14,660 --> 00:17:14,780 Yeah. 311 00:17:14,790 --> 00:17:16,880 Shimat Joseph: And it's not like gradual like us. 312 00:17:16,900 --> 00:17:17,100 Ping Yu: (laughs) Yeah. 313 00:17:17,120 --> 00:17:18,390 Shimat Joseph: We are continuously growing, right? 314 00:17:18,460 --> 00:17:18,989 Ping Yu: No, no. 315 00:17:19,060 --> 00:17:20,090 Shimat Joseph: insects cannot do that. 316 00:17:20,120 --> 00:17:24,080 So they are growing inside and when they get to certain size (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) they shed the skin. 317 00:17:24,580 --> 00:17:24,750 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 318 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:28,220 Shimat Joseph: They call it eclosion or, uh, not eclosion, the molting. 319 00:17:28,260 --> 00:17:29,060 That's the word we use. 320 00:17:29,300 --> 00:17:29,500 Ping Yu: Okay. 321 00:17:29,540 --> 00:17:31,300 Shimat Joseph: So they molt because they get... 322 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,640 They lose that old skin (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and they make their own new skin. 323 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:36,350 Ping Yu: Oh, okay. 324 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:38,910 Shimat Joseph: In that process they increase the size, right? 325 00:17:38,980 --> 00:17:39,280 Ping Yu: Okay. 326 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,940 Shimat Joseph: So we call it first instar, like first stage, whatever that is. 327 00:17:43,329 --> 00:17:45,380 And they molt into another stage. 328 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:46,040 They look bigger. 329 00:17:46,300 --> 00:17:46,489 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 330 00:17:46,540 --> 00:17:48,340 Shimat Joseph: We call it like a second stage. 331 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:48,720 Ping Yu: Uh-huh. 332 00:17:48,780 --> 00:17:50,800 Shimat Joseph: So we call it the second instar- second in this case. 333 00:17:50,860 --> 00:17:51,200 Ping Yu: Okay. 334 00:17:51,260 --> 00:17:58,500 Shimat Joseph: So I don't, we don't know exactly how many instars these beetles are undergoing, but we think that it's about three instars. 335 00:17:58,580 --> 00:17:58,840 Ping Yu: Okay. 336 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,980 Shimat Joseph: So they go through three times like that, becoming bigger in size as they grow. 337 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,000 So three stages of development. 338 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:05,489 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 339 00:18:05,540 --> 00:18:15,300 Shimat Joseph: Then when they get to a point where, uh, this is a ho-holometabolous (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) that means these insects need to break down into something totally different (Ping Yu: Uh-huh) they look like 340 00:18:15,460 --> 00:18:16,280 as an adult. 341 00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:16,520 Ping Yu: Yeah. 342 00:18:16,740 --> 00:18:18,080 Shimat Joseph: You know, it doesn't look same, right? 343 00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:20,460 So larvae is not very resembling the adults. 344 00:18:20,740 --> 00:18:24,560 Ping Yu: It's kind of like the how the, um, butterfly. 345 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:25,080 Shimat Joseph: Correct. 346 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,080 Ping Yu: The whole process of the butterfly. 347 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:27,720 Shimat Joseph: Exactly. 348 00:18:27,820 --> 00:18:27,900 Ping Yu: Yeah. 349 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:28,240 Shimat Joseph: Exactly. 350 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:32,900 It's just like a butterfly in the monarch butterfly (Ping Yu: Yeah) might have seen in the butterfly gardens. 351 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:33,200 Ping Yu: Yeah. 352 00:18:33,380 --> 00:18:34,080 Shimat Joseph: Same idea. 353 00:18:34,260 --> 00:18:36,060 So larvae, they are in the root habitat. 354 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:37,260 That's where their habitat is. 355 00:18:37,300 --> 00:18:37,510 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 356 00:18:37,820 --> 00:18:42,160 Shimat Joseph: And they go to a stage when they're done with that, they completely go into a resting phase. 357 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:42,680 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 358 00:18:42,820 --> 00:18:45,720 Shimat Joseph: Um, as to resting meaning they're not eating that point. 359 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:46,180 Ping Yu: Okay. 360 00:18:46,460 --> 00:18:50,460 Shimat Joseph: They are just, uh, reconfigurating in there, changing into something else. 361 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:50,980 Ping Yu: Metamorph. 362 00:18:51,260 --> 00:18:52,910 Shimat Joseph: They're changing into something different. 363 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,700 So they are doing that breakdown in a stage called pupal stage. 364 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:57,140 Ping Yu: Yeah. 365 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,120 Shimat Joseph: And after that they molt into a beetle. 366 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:01,020 They come out as a beetle. 367 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,269 They're totally different from the larval stage, right? 368 00:19:03,300 --> 00:19:03,520 Ping Yu: Yeah. 369 00:19:03,990 --> 00:19:05,670 Shimat Joseph: And that's why it's called holometabolous. 370 00:19:05,700 --> 00:19:06,760 They're completely changing. 371 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:07,180 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 372 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:08,260 Shimat Joseph: It's not like same. 373 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:08,740 Okay? 374 00:19:09,220 --> 00:19:12,740 So adults comes out and they sneak out from the soil. 375 00:19:12,900 --> 00:19:13,060 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 376 00:19:13,109 --> 00:19:15,180 Shimat Joseph: And they come out and they want to eat something. 377 00:19:15,380 --> 00:19:15,860 They'll eat. 378 00:19:16,180 --> 00:19:17,160 They try to find a mate. 379 00:19:17,430 --> 00:19:18,000 They have to mate. 380 00:19:18,399 --> 00:19:21,510 And all this process takes like six days, about six days. 381 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:21,870 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 382 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:28,100 Shimat Joseph: You know, they're, we don't know exactly how many days they need, take to mate or we don't know all those details yet. 383 00:19:28,140 --> 00:19:33,000 But what we know is that within that timeframe they start feeding and also start mating. 384 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:37,020 And once that is done they're, they are ready to lay eggs. 385 00:19:37,300 --> 00:19:37,600 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 386 00:19:37,700 --> 00:19:39,180 Shimat Joseph: So that process again starts. 387 00:19:39,660 --> 00:19:47,400 So their entire life cycle, that stage from egg to all the way to adult, it takes about one month (Ping Yu: Okay) in a summer day. 388 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:47,700 Ping Yu: Okay. 389 00:19:47,740 --> 00:19:48,660 Shimat Joseph: In a summer temperature. 390 00:19:48,740 --> 00:19:51,610 We are talking about 80, 85 degrees, uh, Fahrenheit. 391 00:19:51,980 --> 00:19:52,160 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 392 00:19:52,220 --> 00:19:54,700 Shimat Joseph: That's kind of temperature, but if it is cooler it take longer. 393 00:19:55,220 --> 00:19:55,600 Ping Yu: Okay. 394 00:19:55,700 --> 00:19:56,920 Shimat Joseph: So it's all temperature bond. 395 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:57,440 Ping Yu: Okay. 396 00:19:57,510 --> 00:19:58,500 Shimat Joseph: How these things work at the end. 397 00:19:58,540 --> 00:20:07,440 Ping Yu: But here in Georgia I would say, like, so do you think it's just about one month or s- at least southeastern part of the US would be, like, about 398 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:10,660 one month to complete their whole life cycle? 399 00:20:10,980 --> 00:20:13,180 Shimat Joseph: Yeah, it can practically do it in one month. 400 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:13,780 Ping Yu: Okay. 401 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:19,660 So yeah, again, with the complete change phase, it's kind of like a caterpillar to butterfly. 402 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:22,080 They look exactly... 403 00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:26,990 well, not exactly, totally different from the instar to the adults, right? 404 00:20:27,180 --> 00:20:27,320 Shimat Joseph: Correct. 405 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:28,620 Ping Yu: So does... 406 00:20:28,660 --> 00:20:34,500 You men- you kind of briefly mentioned that they also cause damage to the root ball as... 407 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:36,940 So those would be the instars, right? 408 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:47,040 Because when the adults, when they become adults, they were out there, not a- not in the surface of the soil, but out there looking for pests to 409 00:20:47,140 --> 00:20:47,820 chew on, right? 410 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:48,340 Shimat Joseph: Correct. 411 00:20:48,620 --> 00:20:51,220 I mentioned that the larval stage is feeding on roots. 412 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:56,720 Uh, the one thing remember, that we don't have any evidence of, uh, root feeding damage. 413 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:57,500 Ping Yu: Okay. 414 00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:04,580 Shimat Joseph: They might be feeding the roots, but, um, out in a, in a nursery setting we are looking at roots (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and we didn't see anything so far. 415 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:10,380 So as a larval stage, when they feed on the roots, we don't have any economic damage to report. 416 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:11,080 Ping Yu: Yeah. 417 00:21:11,220 --> 00:21:11,230 No. 418 00:21:11,260 --> 00:21:17,399 Shimat Joseph: Anything to report, we don't care (laughs) really, because, uh, that's not impacting the, the sellability of the crop. 419 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:17,580 Ping Yu: Yeah. 420 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,380 People, people, people only see the plant itself, not the root yet. 421 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:21,660 Shimat Joseph: Yeah. 422 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:22,040 Ping Yu: Right. 423 00:21:22,060 --> 00:21:22,070 Shimat Joseph: Right. 424 00:21:22,100 --> 00:21:22,320 Ping Yu: Yeah. 425 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:28,040 Shimat Joseph: But as adults they are destructive, because that is destructive stage, economically important stage of that pest. 426 00:21:28,500 --> 00:21:35,360 Adults feed, and they cause damage, and doesn't care whether it is a freshly new leaves are coming out or it's old leaf. 427 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:36,840 They can feed on both alike. 428 00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:40,320 Ping Yu: Oh, so they can feed on all the leaves. 429 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:40,630 Shimat Joseph: Correct. 430 00:21:40,630 --> 00:21:43,960 Ping Yu: Doesn't really matter if it's newly leaves or older leaves. 431 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:44,230 Shimat Joseph: Correct. 432 00:21:44,340 --> 00:21:45,360 Ping Yu: But they don't feed on... 433 00:21:45,420 --> 00:21:47,490 They don't damage the flowers yet, right? 434 00:21:48,060 --> 00:21:52,280 Shimat Joseph: Well, they can feed, but we haven't seen any damage, so you're right, on the flowers. 435 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:54,360 They are primarily leaf-feeding beetle. 436 00:21:54,820 --> 00:21:55,100 Ping Yu: Okay. 437 00:21:55,180 --> 00:21:55,820 Shimat Joseph: And that's what... 438 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,140 This is coming from a group of family that's called Chrysomelidae. 439 00:21:59,180 --> 00:21:59,520 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 440 00:21:59,540 --> 00:22:02,040 Shimat Joseph: And that's basically categorizes leaf-feeding beetles. 441 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:02,700 Ping Yu: Okay. 442 00:22:02,780 --> 00:22:07,560 Shimat Joseph: And that is very abundant group, and there is all different kinds of, uh, insects there. 443 00:22:07,699 --> 00:22:08,060 One... 444 00:22:08,100 --> 00:22:11,450 another pest you might be familiar with is Japanese beetles (Ping Yu: Oh, yeah). 445 00:22:11,450 --> 00:22:12,400 yeah in Southeast. 446 00:22:12,460 --> 00:22:14,440 So that, that's another leaf-eating beetle. 447 00:22:14,820 --> 00:22:15,239 Ping Yu: Okay. 448 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:20,560 So, so we kind of categorize those beetles with their feeding source. 449 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:20,820 Shimat Joseph: Yeah. 450 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:25,700 Ping Yu: Um, if it's a leaf-feeding, so this, this pest specifically belongs to the leaf-feeding beetle category. 451 00:22:25,740 --> 00:22:26,019 Shimat Joseph: Yeah. 452 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,320 Ping Yu: But Japanese beetle can feed on flowers too. 453 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:28,620 Shimat Joseph: Oh, yeah. 454 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:29,520 They feed on flowers. 455 00:22:29,620 --> 00:22:33,580 But in this case we haven't seen them attacking any flowers or in particular. 456 00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:33,930 Ping Yu: Okay. 457 00:22:33,940 --> 00:22:35,820 Shimat Joseph: They might be feeding it, but we haven't seen it. 458 00:22:36,140 --> 00:22:46,380 Ping Yu: (instrumental music) So I know another fascinating or interesting fact of the pest that, that I, at least 459 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:51,380 I, uh, have been learned, that is that, uh, some of the pest, they are... 460 00:22:51,840 --> 00:23:01,880 I don't know if that's true, but I feel like the male and female, uh, like in the pest world, a lot of times the male is only there 461 00:23:01,980 --> 00:23:04,860 to mate, and after that they're gone. 462 00:23:04,980 --> 00:23:07,640 Is that right for the red-headed flea beetle as well? 463 00:23:08,380 --> 00:23:09,600 Shimat Joseph: Honestly, I don't know. 464 00:23:09,620 --> 00:23:10,930 (laughs) That's the truth. 465 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:16,590 But if I guess, I would say, uh, not so much, because males, you're right, they're for mating. 466 00:23:16,700 --> 00:23:17,530 That's the main job. 467 00:23:17,900 --> 00:23:18,100 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 468 00:23:18,180 --> 00:23:20,160 Shimat Joseph: But they're definitely going to feed too. 469 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:20,540 Ping Yu: Okay. 470 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,500 Shimat Joseph: Um, and we have seen males feeding and females feeding alike. 471 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:31,260 Um, and, uh, I don't know how fu- or how long they feed as that, in that stage, uh, but definitely males feed. 472 00:23:31,780 --> 00:23:31,880 Ping Yu: Okay. 473 00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:32,840 Shimat Joseph: There's no doubt about it. 474 00:23:33,060 --> 00:23:43,280 Ping Yu: But so in terms of like, in terms of the population of the male and female, do you have any idea of like what is the ratio of the, 475 00:23:43,340 --> 00:23:49,420 uh, male and female out there in the field, uh, like what, what kind of ratio? 476 00:23:50,740 --> 00:23:51,920 Shimat Joseph: Ho- honestly, I don't know that too. 477 00:23:52,060 --> 00:23:53,100 That needs to be researched. 478 00:23:53,140 --> 00:23:59,720 (laughs) So whatever we know at this point is that, uh, we are thinking that they are one is to one, but, uh, you know, I... 479 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:01,080 we can't really say for sure. 480 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:01,480 Ping Yu: Okay. 481 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:09,500 Shimat Joseph: If there is any other, you know, endosymbionts, we say some of the gut, uh, bacteria that is (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) very specific and driving the females are more. 482 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:09,940 Ping Yu: Okay. 483 00:24:10,020 --> 00:24:12,080 Shimat Joseph: We don't know all those things exist in this beetle. 484 00:24:12,500 --> 00:24:14,840 We haven't done any work on that area as well. 485 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:16,840 So there is a lot of work needs to be done. 486 00:24:16,959 --> 00:24:19,979 Ping Yu: I know, 'cause, uh, as we were talking I was like, "Hey, what about this? 487 00:24:20,060 --> 00:24:20,579 What about that?" 488 00:24:20,610 --> 00:24:26,280 'Cause I don't, I don't know any of those answers, and I saw that y- as a researcher you might know more of those. 489 00:24:26,340 --> 00:24:31,700 But then, so that's w- I think one of the fascinating fact of academia, of research, is the way... 490 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,360 there's always so much unknown. 491 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,440 I guess that's our, the security of our job, right? 492 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:47,860 (laughs) That's So for the, um, for the, uh, red-headed flea beetle, so basically both male and female are feeding the plant 493 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:48,080 and... 494 00:24:48,180 --> 00:24:54,560 but how many eggs do you know a matured female will lay each time? 495 00:24:55,100 --> 00:24:55,920 Shimat Joseph: That's a very good question. 496 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,520 Again, I don't have an answer for it. 497 00:24:57,540 --> 00:24:57,780 Ping Yu: (laughs) Right. 498 00:24:57,860 --> 00:25:04,660 Shimat Joseph: I'm asking all those research questions so that we need to do work on that- and to solve those, to answer those questions. 499 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:09,280 There are many basic questions we need to know about this pest (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) we don't know. 500 00:25:09,370 --> 00:25:12,500 We can guess it, but I think the guessing may not be right here. 501 00:25:12,980 --> 00:25:14,599 So that's why I'm not giving a number to it. 502 00:25:14,980 --> 00:25:16,720 But, um- they might... 503 00:25:16,780 --> 00:25:17,160 They are... 504 00:25:17,190 --> 00:25:17,560 They... 505 00:25:17,580 --> 00:25:20,760 We don't know how many eggs they lay, how long the adults live. 506 00:25:21,100 --> 00:25:21,380 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 507 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:24,680 Shimat Joseph: We don't know how many times they mate, when they mate. 508 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,520 We don't know a lot of, uh, basic biology (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) of this pest yet. 509 00:25:29,900 --> 00:25:38,930 Like I said, when I walked into this pest, uh, studying this insect, uh, like, uh, eight years ago (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) because the growers were having (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) problems with that. 510 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:48,500 So my goal at that point, and still, is to try to manage it, and we didn't, uh, we didn't do much work (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) in understanding their biology a lot. 511 00:25:48,570 --> 00:25:48,940 Ping Yu: Okay. 512 00:25:49,060 --> 00:25:50,380 Shimat Joseph: we are interested to do that. 513 00:25:50,460 --> 00:25:51,870 Uh, hopefully with time we'll learn more this. 514 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:52,300 Ping Yu: Yeah. 515 00:25:52,640 --> 00:26:02,730 Because those are very, like, fundamental information about this pest and then I would think that from the research perspective, if we know those answers, 516 00:26:02,820 --> 00:26:12,960 it might provide us with more information for us to better control them because we can interfere, um, their life cycle at different stage and say, 517 00:26:13,140 --> 00:26:13,590 what is... 518 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:19,760 wha-what would be the best time to interfere that and then make the best management tool for that, right? 519 00:26:20,060 --> 00:26:20,180 Shimat Joseph: Yeah. 520 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:20,480 That's right. 521 00:26:20,490 --> 00:26:27,300 Ping Yu: (laughs) Uh, so for the red-headed flea beetles, when would you think it'll be for the growers? 522 00:26:27,420 --> 00:26:29,800 When would be their peak season that would... 523 00:26:29,830 --> 00:26:33,180 they would cause the most damage for the plant? 524 00:26:33,260 --> 00:26:37,480 And is that in the summer or what, what's the, what's the thought in there? 525 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:38,080 Shimat Joseph: That's good. 526 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:39,020 Good question. 527 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:43,450 So we, uh, when we started this, about studying this pest, this with our... 528 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:45,280 Those, these were our basic questions. 529 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:45,560 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 530 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:50,140 Shimat Joseph: When they are there, what is that, uh, what stage is present and what time? 531 00:26:50,340 --> 00:26:50,720 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 532 00:26:50,820 --> 00:26:55,780 Shimat Joseph: And, uh, you know, how long they will remain like that, and is that a problem throughout the year? 533 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,780 So my graduate student basically addressing all those things. 534 00:26:59,860 --> 00:27:00,140 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 535 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,000 Shimat Joseph: So he was trying to understand the phenology of this insect. 536 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,600 So like, um, uh, how many generations are there in this year? 537 00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:06,669 Ping Yu: Mm. 538 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:11,940 Shimat Joseph: So we are just asking one question a step, one question at a time, and this is one question we asked. 539 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,100 Try to understand how many generations. 540 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:20,440 Based on his work, I think we have four generations, and that's basically that we understand. 541 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,000 And, um, what was your other question? 542 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:23,200 Ping Yu: Yeah. 543 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:24,620 Um, and we-we do... 544 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:35,160 There's a word that called scouting for people who goes to-- goes out and looking for pests and then take actions to prevent it from getting worse. 545 00:27:35,340 --> 00:27:35,580 Shimat Joseph: Right. 546 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:41,220 So we start, uh, in our case, in Georgia (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and mostly maybe a little variation in going north. 547 00:27:41,780 --> 00:27:44,060 We start seeing their adults coming in in May. 548 00:27:44,660 --> 00:27:44,900 Ping Yu: Okay. 549 00:27:44,930 --> 00:27:54,900 Shimat Joseph: So in first to second week of May, we start seeing them, and, uh, once we, uh, the growers at this point, they all use visual means to, uh, see 550 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,619 whether the beetles are out or active (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) feeding. 551 00:27:58,140 --> 00:28:00,420 Um, we don't have a trap, uh, anything like that. 552 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,800 Like I said, there are many areas that (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) need to study about this pest. 553 00:28:04,260 --> 00:28:06,880 Uh, we don't have a lot of answers to all those things. 554 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:15,020 But still, the, the method right now is look for adults, and if you see any damage, that's kind of indication that you need to make an application. 555 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:15,420 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 556 00:28:15,460 --> 00:28:23,380 Shimat Joseph: And in our case, it is about first to second week of May (Ping Yu: Okay) we see the first peak emergence of adults happens. 557 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:31,040 After that, it'll stay about a month or so like that as an adult activity, and with time, you will adult activity go down. 558 00:28:31,620 --> 00:28:36,580 And, uh, in that time, basically all laid eggs and there's larvae going on at that time. 559 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:38,420 And we have a gap in June. 560 00:28:38,500 --> 00:28:41,560 And after that, in July, then we'll see a second generation coming in. 561 00:28:42,220 --> 00:28:44,140 And after that, you know, we'll see a peak. 562 00:28:44,380 --> 00:28:50,980 Then after then, there is so much, uh, you know, y- you know, depending on who came early and who (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) came late in May. 563 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:57,980 There is a egg-laying process and a differentiation in, uh, egg laying and development happens in the c- in the containers. 564 00:28:58,340 --> 00:28:58,440 Ping Yu: Okay. 565 00:28:58,460 --> 00:29:04,460 Shimat Joseph: In that way, the, there i- there eventually with the third, second generation, you start seeing an overlap in generation. 566 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:05,049 Ping Yu: Okay. 567 00:29:05,100 --> 00:29:08,200 Shimat Joseph: So then we can't really pinpoint, okay, this is a third or second. 568 00:29:08,500 --> 00:29:11,760 We can't really tell (Ping Yu: Okay) because it becomes so overlapping at that point. 569 00:29:12,140 --> 00:29:13,900 So third and fourth is always like that. 570 00:29:14,100 --> 00:29:14,400 Ping Yu: Okay. 571 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,019 Shimat Joseph: It's, it's very difficult for us to... 572 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,040 Another aspect that we are finding is the host plays a big role. 573 00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:20,500 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 574 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:24,780 Shimat Joseph: You know, some hosts support them, uh, development very quickly and others are not. 575 00:29:25,300 --> 00:29:32,720 And we see that, uh, across the board, and, uh, when we think about management, that's why this is a very difficult pest to manage. 576 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:41,640 It's not like we developed a grow- growing degree day model and say how much heat they accumulate, and we say, "This is the time to apply." 577 00:29:41,660 --> 00:29:50,780 It is not as easy as that because the hosts and when they come, uh, in the gre- in the nurseries all plays a big role in what eventually happens 578 00:29:50,860 --> 00:29:51,520 in that nursery. 579 00:29:51,540 --> 00:29:54,480 Obviously, it kind of falls out in the rest of the season. 580 00:29:55,060 --> 00:30:03,600 So it is complicated because of that, and that's why this is a very difficult pest to- Ping Yu: Yeah, 'cause I was thinking about, like, if the first w- or if 581 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:13,780 Ping Yu: the scouting starts, well, in May where-- and people will start to see the damage, and then that's when they need to start a spray or take management tools 582 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:14,639 to manage it. 583 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:24,380 S- Speaking of that, I h- I know that you guys have done a lot of work in trying to manage this pest. 584 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:34,540 Are there any effective method that you c- will give the grower or whoever who wants to, uh, manage this pest and give 585 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:40,280 the outline of how to manage it effectively (Shimat Joseph: Right) with your knowledge? 586 00:30:40,420 --> 00:30:40,839 Shimat Joseph: That's right. 587 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,940 So going back to what you just said about there, how complicated it is. 588 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,860 It, it is complicated because it's not just a distinct generation. 589 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:49,100 Ping Yu: Yeah. 590 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:55,760 Shimat Joseph: We are also talking about space in the nursery and how the plants are kind of spatially distributed. 591 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:56,290 Ping Yu: Yeah, yeah. 592 00:30:56,300 --> 00:31:01,660 Shimat Joseph: And their ability to feed on multiple hosts, and that basically complicates how we're gonna manage it. 593 00:31:02,180 --> 00:31:06,380 So we have taken multiple approaches to really tackle it. 594 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:13,420 So we ti- uh, we try to, uh, focus on adults first because that's more economically important pest (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) stage of the pest, sorry. 595 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:13,680 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 596 00:31:14,060 --> 00:31:14,880 Shimat Joseph: And that's what they... 597 00:31:15,010 --> 00:31:15,830 we targeted first. 598 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:22,340 So we did some several studies (Ping Yu: Yeah) to understand and screened a few important ones that growers can use. 599 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:29,780 Um, for example, neoni- if a grower is u- using neonicotinoid insecticide spray, that is a very good insecticide. 600 00:31:30,060 --> 00:31:30,720 That is, uh... 601 00:31:30,740 --> 00:31:32,740 that can be used for managing this pest. 602 00:31:33,300 --> 00:31:37,940 Other insecticides like Sarisa (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) is a cyclaniliprole, and that product. 603 00:31:38,380 --> 00:31:39,620 XXpire is another one. 604 00:31:39,700 --> 00:31:44,640 So there are many other insecticides that we found, like handful of insecticides that can be used. 605 00:31:44,740 --> 00:31:47,080 There is a new one that is plinazolin that's coming. 606 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:48,160 It is on the pipeline. 607 00:31:48,380 --> 00:31:48,520 Ping Yu: Okay. 608 00:31:48,580 --> 00:31:51,430 Shimat Joseph: So I hope it'll be coming, and it's all very effective products. 609 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:53,380 So there are some tools, not a lot. 610 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:53,860 Ping Yu: Yeah. 611 00:31:53,940 --> 00:31:56,700 Shimat Joseph: There is some tools that they can use as a foliar spray. 612 00:31:57,260 --> 00:31:59,160 We also interested in tackling the larvae. 613 00:31:59,420 --> 00:31:59,660 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 614 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,280 Shimat Joseph: So we went with the drench applications. 615 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:02,580 Ping Yu: Yeah. 616 00:32:02,730 --> 00:32:05,000 Shimat Joseph: And there is handful of insecticides that we can use. 617 00:32:05,380 --> 00:32:10,160 Again, some of them are also labeled to use as a foliar, so that is a challenge here. 618 00:32:10,580 --> 00:32:14,440 So when you come up, uh, with the managing this pest needs to be a multi-pronged approach. 619 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:14,900 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 620 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:19,180 Shimat Joseph: It is not like one foliar spray here on this crop will take care of it. 621 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:24,460 Ping Yu: Yeah, because it does h- the-- both the larva and adults can cause damage to the plant. 622 00:32:24,860 --> 00:32:34,060 Shimat Joseph: Not necessarily the larva stage causing the damage (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) the adults can move to other plants (Ping Yu: Yeah) and still stay there and complete a generation there, and you might be 623 00:32:34,380 --> 00:32:39,160 not having a cro- any problem in the, in the crop that you sprayed (Ping Yu: Yeah) but they are going to come back. 624 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:39,840 Ping Yu: Yeah. 625 00:32:39,900 --> 00:32:40,400 Oh, yeah. 626 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,859 Shimat Joseph: So, so it, it should be a, a kind of a, a strategy where we ta... 627 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:50,720 we are doing both the application methods in such a way that, that we can suppress the population. 628 00:32:51,090 --> 00:32:56,600 And that's kind of a area that I'm trying to, trying to develop a program or trying to come up with a strategy. 629 00:32:56,940 --> 00:33:05,840 Right now I'm not there yet because I need to know how they are, they're moving, how they are behaving with different hosts, and all those things still need to 630 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:06,380 be known. 631 00:33:06,820 --> 00:33:11,060 But right now, what really works is a drench application if... 632 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,200 or a granule application of neonicotinoid insecticide. 633 00:33:14,420 --> 00:33:14,620 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 634 00:33:14,740 --> 00:33:15,180 Shimat Joseph: If that is... 635 00:33:15,500 --> 00:33:17,880 If the nurseries is willing to do that. 636 00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:23,040 If they do, they can do that early the year, uh, in the season, like sometime in April. 637 00:33:23,740 --> 00:33:29,260 If they can make those application, it will, it will have insti- residues, insecticide residues on the plant. 638 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:29,720 Ping Yu: Okay. 639 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,300 Shimat Joseph: In the plant, so adults can be stopped. 640 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:34,280 Not necessarily the larvae here. 641 00:33:34,700 --> 00:33:36,359 We can stop the adults from feeding. 642 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:36,660 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 643 00:33:36,780 --> 00:33:41,040 Shimat Joseph: And we know that it can go multiple months like that (Ping Yu: Oh) give a protection. 644 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:41,420 Ping Yu: Okay. 645 00:33:41,460 --> 00:33:46,480 Shimat Joseph: It is good enough that different growers can strategize that according to their marketing window. 646 00:33:46,580 --> 00:33:46,769 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 647 00:33:46,820 --> 00:33:51,760 Shimat Joseph: Because there is a spring window, early summer window (Ping Yu: Yeah) there's a gap there, then it's another window starts. 648 00:33:52,260 --> 00:34:02,440 Ping Yu: So growers need to star- strategize their, their use of insecticides (Shimat Joseph: Mm-hmm) management, management, uh, strategies based on their selling points (Shimat Joseph: Mm-hmm) 649 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:04,400 at the window where they're going to sell all the crops. 650 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:05,040 Shimat Joseph: Yeah. 651 00:34:05,460 --> 00:34:08,260 Ping Yu: Kind of following up on what you just said, what... 652 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:17,560 There's a lot, still a lot of unknowing about this pest and then because of the complication of the pest and, um, the relationship between the pest and the plant 653 00:34:17,579 --> 00:34:18,140 itself. 654 00:34:18,860 --> 00:34:24,260 What is your next step of the pest, of, of managing the pest? 655 00:34:24,340 --> 00:34:25,100 Let's put it that way. 656 00:34:25,500 --> 00:34:25,660 Shimat Joseph: Yeah. 657 00:34:26,140 --> 00:34:31,600 So we want to know, like I just said, I really not need to know how they behave in the nurseries. 658 00:34:32,140 --> 00:34:41,420 You know, one thing my other graduate student is working on is when we spray a block of plants like hydrangea, a block of plants, you can get the protection 659 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,340 from this beetle to that block. 660 00:34:43,860 --> 00:34:49,900 But eventually what happens is that they're, they're-- we are pushing them to other plants and, uh, where they normally won't go. 661 00:34:50,260 --> 00:34:50,460 Ping Yu: Yeah. 662 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:51,400 Shimat Joseph: And we want... 663 00:34:51,420 --> 00:34:53,880 We are trying to understand what is that their behavior. 664 00:34:54,380 --> 00:34:57,680 Are they going to go there or lay eggs there or not? 665 00:34:57,740 --> 00:34:58,960 Those kind of things we are going. 666 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:06,180 So how they move within the nursery with the complication that, uh, the host itself, and also how they manage it currently. 667 00:35:06,540 --> 00:35:06,640 Ping Yu: Mm. 668 00:35:06,660 --> 00:35:09,600 Shimat Joseph: Because they can't afford to spray the entire nursery same time. 669 00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:09,920 Ping Yu: No. 670 00:35:10,130 --> 00:35:10,800 Shimat Joseph: They cannot do that. 671 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:12,080 It's very expensive. 672 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:18,180 Ping Yu: For those who doesn't know, like, chem- chemicals or insecticides are super expensive. 673 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:18,680 Shimat Joseph: And labor. 674 00:35:18,980 --> 00:35:19,420 Ping Yu: Labor is also (Shimat Joseph: Yeah). 675 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:20,180 Oh, yeah. 676 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:24,860 Shimat Joseph: Yeah so we are-- that could be-- uh, that is one area that we want to figure out. 677 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:26,360 Okay, what is the best way to go? 678 00:35:26,940 --> 00:35:30,840 What host they prefer as adults and also for laying (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) egg laying. 679 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:32,860 That is another area that we are working on. 680 00:35:32,900 --> 00:35:35,040 So my graduate student's also working on that. 681 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:35,089 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 682 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:39,699 Shimat Joseph: So we are basically working on different projects and different, uh, pieces. 683 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:40,060 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 684 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:46,460 Shimat Joseph: And idea is that maybe in couple of years we might be able to pull everything together (Ping Yu: Mm-hmm) and make a sense what's going on. 685 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:46,860 Ping Yu: Okay. 686 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:51,050 Shimat Joseph: Because we really don't know, uh, what is really, really going on right now. 687 00:35:51,540 --> 00:35:54,440 Because, um, as an adult they can feed on many things. 688 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:57,120 As a, a laying eggs, what they prefer. 689 00:35:57,560 --> 00:35:57,630 Ping Yu: Yeah. 690 00:35:57,740 --> 00:35:59,040 Shimat Joseph: Um, so we need to know that. 691 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:02,840 Because X and Y host, probably they are not feeding. 692 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:03,140 Ping Yu: Yeah. 693 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:05,500 Shimat Joseph: maybe they're using as a host to lay eggs. 694 00:36:05,580 --> 00:36:05,880 Ping Yu: Yeah. 695 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:06,780 Shimat Joseph: We don't know that part. 696 00:36:07,270 --> 00:36:14,980 So there are a lot of questions still there we need to understand before we come up with and say something comprehensive or something like a recommendation. 697 00:36:15,220 --> 00:36:15,340 Ping Yu: Yeah. 698 00:36:15,500 --> 00:36:25,840 I kind of love my job with ornamentals, but also it's a pain as well because things can get very complicated in terms with ornamental and, uh, and then the 699 00:36:25,900 --> 00:36:36,520 ornamental relationship with or the crop relationship with, like, the micro-- uh, mi- microbes and, uh, the pests and then pollinators and all other, uh, 700 00:36:36,710 --> 00:36:41,140 things that goes within the whole world of the, of the, uh, crop. 701 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:49,680 (gentle music) Uh, so now let's move back to the main focus here. 702 00:36:49,720 --> 00:36:51,020 If as a... 703 00:36:51,460 --> 00:37:01,720 You, you do have extension appointments, so if a young grower come into you and say, "Hey, Dr., uh, Joseph, I want to set myself up 704 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:08,870 for long-term success," what kind of information or what kind of suggestions you would have for them? 705 00:37:09,259 --> 00:37:10,000 Shimat Joseph: That's a good question. 706 00:37:10,620 --> 00:37:14,200 So let me talk in the context of the flea beetle contest. 707 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:23,580 One thing that they can do is when they move plants into the nursery, they might be buying a plant material or whatever, make sure you just isolate it somehow. 708 00:37:23,820 --> 00:37:24,340 Ping Yu: (chuckles) Oh, yeah. 709 00:37:24,420 --> 00:37:27,600 Shimat Joseph: From your- (Ping Yu: Quaran- quarantine) That's the thing. 710 00:37:27,660 --> 00:37:28,140 Ping Yu: Yeah. 711 00:37:28,220 --> 00:37:37,680 Shimat Joseph: So, you know, we, we worked with this flea beetle, and we tried to do some kind of fencing where we had a overhang inside so that the beetles cannot 712 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:38,880 move from that area. 713 00:37:39,340 --> 00:37:45,300 So bring the plants-- When you bring new plants into the nursery, watch for the plants really carefully. 714 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:50,410 Don't put it, unleash it into the (Ping Yu: Yeah) into your main area because we want to watch it. 715 00:37:50,410 --> 00:37:56,540 And, uh, if you can give a, uh, you know, if you see any insects there, that's basically the time to watch that. 716 00:37:56,620 --> 00:37:59,470 Any activity, monitor them for any insect activity. 717 00:38:00,020 --> 00:38:09,640 If you see something there, uh, you might need to make an application and make sure you give, uh, some precautionary treatments before you move into or put those plants 718 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:10,740 into other areas. 719 00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:21,300 You know, it's very easy to say because very-- it is often challenging for- Ping Yu: Because i- in terms of, like, doing that for growers and they want 720 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:30,060 Ping Yu: to-- they are sacrificing their space and labor to have a separate space for that plant. 721 00:38:30,260 --> 00:38:30,460 Shimat Joseph: Yes. 722 00:38:30,540 --> 00:38:33,220 Ping Yu: And that's money (Shimat Joseph: Yes) and effort in there. 723 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:38,360 So for anyone who's out there, go to the, um, big store and grab something. 724 00:38:38,460 --> 00:38:44,820 You think that's just a, a plant from the, from the, um, Home Depot or, uh, Walmart. 725 00:38:45,580 --> 00:38:46,700 It's not just that. 726 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:57,140 There's a lot of going on behind the scene where the plant is growing, and they have all those interactions with the pest, and they have to combat the whole 727 00:38:57,240 --> 00:38:59,520 challenges to be able to come to your door. 728 00:38:59,940 --> 00:39:00,080 Shimat Joseph: Right. 729 00:39:00,220 --> 00:39:07,180 Ping Yu: So, um, just, um, just in general, just be appreciate with the plant that you are buying and then, um, for that. 730 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:07,660 Shimat Joseph: Sure. 731 00:39:07,740 --> 00:39:12,100 Ping Yu: So with that, are there any other last comments, yeah, you wanna leave for our audience? 732 00:39:12,790 --> 00:39:13,660 Shimat Joseph: That's basically it. 733 00:39:14,060 --> 00:39:16,200 (chuckles) Just, uh, keep, uh, following us. 734 00:39:16,620 --> 00:39:16,740 Ping Yu: Yeah. 735 00:39:16,780 --> 00:39:19,519 Shimat Joseph: You know, in years come probably we'll have more research coming in. 736 00:39:19,820 --> 00:39:20,019 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 737 00:39:20,079 --> 00:39:26,100 Shimat Joseph: So once we get all those work done and published, we might have some, uh, recommendations and guidelines (Ping Yu: Yeah) for growers to use. 738 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:32,560 Ping Yu: And don't worry, I'll have Dr. Shimat Joseph coming back to the show in the future, uh, give us updates. 739 00:39:33,100 --> 00:39:39,760 So with that in mind, if people wants to keep a finger on the pulse of what you are doing, following along with the work, where do you recommend they 740 00:39:39,820 --> 00:39:43,860 go and to look out for and find out, find out more? 741 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:44,560 Shimat Joseph: That's great. 742 00:39:44,980 --> 00:39:49,260 So I, i- within University of Georgia, we have a department website. 743 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:49,800 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 744 00:39:49,860 --> 00:39:54,120 Shimat Joseph: And, uh, we-- if you go there, you know, you should see all the faculty members listed. 745 00:39:54,180 --> 00:39:54,360 Ping Yu: Yeah. 746 00:39:54,620 --> 00:39:56,260 Shimat Joseph: And my name is also listed in there. 747 00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:56,480 Ping Yu: Yeah. 748 00:39:56,660 --> 00:40:01,240 Shimat Joseph: So if you go there and click my name there, there should be a page op- kind of opening up. 749 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:01,620 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 750 00:40:01,700 --> 00:40:05,360 Shimat Joseph: That kind of lists, uh, uh, the publications that comes out- from my lab. 751 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:14,840 Like I said, I- my work is more applied and more practical as much as possible that I always try to be like that, so that is useful to people 752 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:15,320 right away. 753 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:15,930 Ping Yu: Yeah. 754 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:17,900 Shimat Joseph: And, uh, we also have a, uh... 755 00:40:18,030 --> 00:40:20,410 In that website, you'll see all the list of publications. 756 00:40:20,580 --> 00:40:20,760 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 757 00:40:20,820 --> 00:40:21,900 Shimat Joseph: And we also have a blog. 758 00:40:22,500 --> 00:40:24,660 And I would just say please sign up for the blog. 759 00:40:25,260 --> 00:40:31,140 And, uh, uh, w- we write any new things coming up, you know, any new findings that we find on different insects. 760 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:31,440 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 761 00:40:31,500 --> 00:40:32,180 Shimat Joseph: We write blogs. 762 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:39,100 And, uh, if you sign up and subscribe in that (Ping Yu: Yeah) know, there is small three boxes there with an email address and your name. 763 00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:39,540 Ping Yu: Mm-hmm. 764 00:40:39,620 --> 00:40:44,360 Shimat Joseph: You should get an email with any new updates, and that's one, one way to get in touch. 765 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:45,680 Ping Yu: (laughs) Thank you so much. 766 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:54,040 Uh, I thank- thank you, Dr. Shimat Joseph, for taking time out with his, uh, from his, um, b- busy schedule and talk, talk with us today. 767 00:40:54,100 --> 00:40:55,480 So as always, um, go... 768 00:40:55,700 --> 00:40:56,360 I'll put the... 769 00:40:56,620 --> 00:41:04,200 I'll try to put the show notes in the, in the, uh, website, and then, uh, you can find more about his topic and his work. 770 00:41:04,690 --> 00:41:13,320 Make sure you hit the subscribe butto- button and consider giving a review for the podcast and donating to the podcast to support the show. 771 00:41:13,380 --> 00:41:14,380 Thank you for listening. 772 00:41:14,620 --> 00:41:17,280 Until next time, stay healthy and go plants. 773 00:41:17,540 --> 00:41:18,020 Adios. 774 00:41:18,420 --> 00:41:24,700 (outro music) Conversation like this only happen when you support the show. 775 00:41:25,100 --> 00:41:33,680 For more information and to find ways to support us, please go to bandbpod.com, bandbpod.com. 776 00:41:34,180 --> 00:41:39,500 If you like what you are hearing, spread the word and share this podcast with the people you love. 777 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:45,360 Make sure you hit that subscription button and give a review for the podcast. 778 00:41:45,980 --> 00:41:55,700 And as always, go check out the show notes to learn more about this topic and other topics we featured on the show at bandbpod.com. 779 00:41:56,100 --> 00:41:57,100 Thank you for listening. 780 00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:00,240 Till the next time, stay healthy and go plants. 781 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:17,190 (outro music)