5/ Ellen brought in some samples from a rhododendron that were covered in what looked like black soot. We looked closer and found mealybugs, which secrete a sticky waste called honeydew. Given that rhodies are often grown in shade the black soot is a mold from the honeydew.

Fortunately this is an easy fix, remove the mealybugs and the mold will go away. You can just wash off the mealybugs with water from a hose or use insecticidal soap (organic, safe).
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4/ Marisa sent us an email with photos of her apples and peaches and asked about the problems the was having. The apple photos all looked like more fireblight. 😞

The peach leaf photos had raised orange blisters on them, which is a sure sign of peach leaf curl, a fungal disease. If it's just one or two leaves you can just cut them off. The tree will need to be sprayed with a fungicide (sulfur is organic) in the winter and spring but now spraying won't help.
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3/ Marion brought in a trap with two enormous dead yellowjackets in it. She was surprised how big they were. I had also been trapping huge yellowjackets at home so this was a question I wanted to know the answer to!

We did some research into yellowjacket varieties and these were plain old western yellowjackets. My theory is that these are queens, and it's good to nab the queens early so they don't make nests (and many more yellowjackets). She hoped that was the case.
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