Guthion is another one that will be sorely missed. Cherry growers really don't have much of a backup plan after it's phased out in the next few years. They have a zero tolerance threshold for cherry maggot (due to stringent requirements of exports, as I recall). None of the proposed replacements for Guthion work as effectively. Currently extension personnel are telling cherry growers to find solutions for maggot before Guthion is completely pulled, but are not really telling them how to do it. Growers are essentially left to themselves to try to figure out some spray program that will work with the current insecticides available. Not to be misunderstood, I think the EPA on the whole has done a good job removing older more dangerous chemistries and encouraging newer safer ones. Although I'm not in complete support for the ban on Guthion and Methyl Bromide (given the increased restrictions for its use i.e. increased buffer zones, monitoring of drift, notification of neighbors, etc) what I'm mostly opposed to is the knee-jerk reactions which seem to be taking place with neonicotinoids and the current bee crisis. As far as competitiveness of U.S. ag, the U.S. farmer has been able to compete w/ countries where labor is very cheap. Traditionally this has been done through automation. A combine running through a field at 10 acres/hr. can compete with a Chinaman harvesting the same field, no matter how little he's paid. Some of our crops are still labor intensive (I'm thinking of fruits here) but that is changing. Thinning and harvesting are in the early stages of becoming fully automated. When that happens, cost of labor will no longer be a factor, as is the case currently with field crops. I do think environmental regulation may tip the scale. Not that I'm against regulation, just that we need to recognize there is a fine balance between adequately protecting the environment and rendering our food growing sector non-competitive. Perhaps that sounds like a severe statement, but the uncomfortable truth is that huge yield increases (and thereby the abundant cheap food) we've enjoyed over the last 50 years are largely the result of synthetic fertilizer and effective pesticides. I'm not trying to start an organic vs. conventional debate, just explaining my rationale for claiming environmental regulation can have a pretty big impact. It would be unfortunate if regulation got so aggressive as to take us back to years where pests took a significant percentage of the crop.

Today I read about this very issue on the Whatsthatbug site. Here is what they said about figuring out if it's chinch bugs or sod webworms: "I can think of three possible culprits for your St. Augustine grass problem, the likliest one being the chinch bug, Blissus insularis, small gray-black insects that suck plant juices from grass blades, especially St. Augustine grass, especially in hot weather. To confirm chinch bugs, according to the Western Garden Book , push a bottomless can into the soil just where the grass is beginning to turn brown. Fill can with water, If lawn is infested, chinch bugs will float to the surface. Diazinon and chlorpyrifos are chemical controls. According to Hogue, the Southern Chinch Bug feeds on several grasses, but Saint Augustine is by far the preferred host plant. The insect's feeding may cause considerable damage: the grass becomes dwarfed, turns yellow and then brown, and dies. Because of the tendency of the species to form aggregations, the symptoms of attack are usually visible in scattered patches. The species is not a native. It first appeared in the Los Angeles area in the late 1960's, having come from the southeastern states. It produces two generations per year and is most abundant in midsummer. Two additional possible culprits that require the same chemical control are Sod Webworms and beetle grubs. If you see whitish to buff colored moths flying around the lawn in a zigzag pattern at night, check for their larvae. To confirm Sod Webworms, drench area of lawn with a solution of 1 tablespoon dishwashing soap diluted in 1 gallon of water. Larvae will come to surface. Treat if there are 15 or more webworms per square yard." Here's the web page - scroll down towards the bottom to read the letter. Deanna Here is a link that might be useful: Whatsthatbug

Hi, There was a confrontation with my wife and the neighbor to the south, right along the shrub line. So it is possible that she might have sprayed something on them. My wife sent a sample away and they came back with "chemical" but they didn't elaborate what that meant. so I thought maby some of the fertilizer for the lawn got on them and had a bad reaction. The lawn was only treated with general lawn fertilizer. We have upped the water dosage to try to flood out what ever might have caused this. I figure it would be a better alternative than just to see them die. We also replaced the mulch with a chopped rubber mulch about the same time as we noticed them dieing off. We now are removing the rubber mulch and replacing it with new wood chip mulch to try and keep the moisture in the ground instead of the water just running off. I am also thinking about trying a fungus treatment on them as well but yet to do so. If they die off totally then they will need to be replanted and it will take a chance of eroding the property since just past the fence is a steep down hill to on the neighbors property. My wife has had the property for 15yrs and never had a problem with them before this. Thank you guys for all your comments, hopefully I have given you guys some good info to your questions and you can help me what to do next.

Virus has been a suspect for years, several of them, as well as mites and poor sanitation and poor nutrition and a number of other things. Most likely it is a combination of several of these not just one single cause. Yellow Jackets are wasps not bees, but they do provide some pollination as well as aiding in controlling some insects.