Holly Greenberg - Week 5

 This internship has been amazing so far. I am constantly surprised by the amount I am learning in such little time! There have been a few challenges, but the support of my mentors, fellow interns, and program directors has made everything run smoothly. I always experience an adjustment period when beginning a new job or internship, but the support system provided through this experience makes me feel capable. 

This week began slowly as a few summer storms hit CMREC. This meant beginning to electronically enter data from different research plots and looking at the tapes from the Crape Myrtles in Rockville. We also pulled the tapes from multiple Service Berry, Maple, and Magnolia trees at CMREC. It had been unknown if the Japanese Maple Scale previously present on the trees was still active, but after looking at the tapes, it is! The Crape Myrtles in Rockville did not have much Crape Myrtle Bark Scale present because it is still early; the second round of tapes will be checked in a few weeks. 

We were able to harvest quite a few of the Snapdragons from the weed paper trial. Each flower was measured to see if it was of marketable length, around 46 inches. 

After this, CMREC hosted an IPM Scouting event. The public is able to bring samples to be observed and diagnosed. It was a small group that provided lots of hands-on learning for those who joined us, in addition to me. The previous director of the Plant Diagnostic Lab, Dr. Karen Rane, joined us with samples from her home garden. This included a fern leafroller that we placed in an insect rearing cage outside for observation. I am so glad I was able to experience this event and look forward to the next one. 

This is me removing loose soil from the trench. 

Later in the week, I assisted Lisa’s team with field work. We dug two 200-foot-long trenches, rolled out landscape fabric, and refilled the trenches over the edges of the fabric. The goal is to suppress the weeds and later use a blowtorch to make holes to grow different species of native flowers. The landscape fabric stays intact for 5-7 years, which makes the 3 hours of labor worthwhile. Luckily, we had help from Michael from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Seedbank, who has been installing landscape fabric for the last 15 years.

After the fabric installation, I headed to Hood College for another Maryland Arborist Association Pest Walk. This event focused on Beech Leaf Disease (BLD). As I learned from the presentation by Dr. Chris Riley from Bartlett, BLD is caused by nematodes that feed on the leaves of Beech trees. This leads to defoliation, and the tree is not able to continue its normal processes. It was interesting to hear about how different levels of forest cover and understory impact the effectiveness of treatment trials. The evening concluded with an injection treatment that provided the arborists with a first-hand demonstration of one possible way for treating this disease. 

A photo with my mentors, Dave and Laura, taken at the MAA Pest Walk.

On Friday, I headed to the Montgomery County Extension Office to watch Laura present at the Procrastinators Symposium. She presented on invasive arthropods, including box tree moth, crape myrtle bark scale, spotted lanternfly, and zigzag sawfly. I enjoyed hearing about the insects that I have yet to work on, as well as those I have had the privilege of researching. After the conference, we headed to one of the sites in Rockville to set up a string border on the sod to prevent further mowing.

Overall, this was another great week. I cannot believe how far into the internship we are, and I know the next few weeks will be full of great activities and learning.