Katrina’s Impact on the Green Industry in South Mississippi

Commercial Horticulture

(greenhouse and nursery production and retail)

• 84 respondents (out of 800 surveyed)

• $9.98 million in reported losses

• Reported an estimated $17-19 million loss for the nursery industry

• Most losses were crops losses, equipment and structural damage

Data collected and summarized by Mississippi Nursery and Landscape Assoc.

Katrina’s Impact on the Green Industry in South Mississippi

Commercial Turf (data summary ongoing)

• Many of the 22 courses on the coast are open for limited or full play

• Lawn care services have lost market

• Reduced market for all sectors of the turf industry (golf, lawn care, ag. sales)

Sample losses:

Lawn care service >$200,000 losses

Sample pH EC mSBay Saint Louis - Tiger Stadium 7.14 1.05

Sunkist 11 Green 5.19 0.88

Sunkist 15 FW 4.7 0.25

Sunkist Pond Water 18.45

St. Stanislaus Courtyard 6.87 5.11

Hancock County Ext Office Mud 7.34 50.1

0.1 g NaCl / liter 0.166

1.0 g NaCL / liter 1.58

10.0 g NaCl / liter 13.98

Ocean Water 55

Data collected be Stewart, Wells, Collins, and Held, October 2005

Will hurricane-related stress tip the scales in favor of borers?

Data from Held and Hughes, Feb. 2005

Recovery of Live Oaks following Hurricane Katrina

• Julie Dobbs, Ph.D. student

• Monitor tree health following three health care regimes

• Document the microfauna associated with live oak recovery

Larra bicolor research

• New state record published in FL. Entomologist

• USGA-funded project for 3 years

L. Buss

L. Buss

indicates sites where Larra bicolor have been observed or collected

Known distribution of Larra bicolor in coastal MS

“Before the publication of Darwin's account of the activities of earthworms (Darwin 1837, 1881) it was commonly believed that earthworms feed on living plants, and they were widely regarded as plant pests…”

K.E. Lee 1985. Earthworms: Their ecology and relationship with soils and land use.

Earthworms Damage to Home Lawns?

• Not documented by any of the turfgrass entomology textbooks

• Kansas State Horticulture Newsletter no. 9, March 2002

“April showers not only bring May flowers but also may bring bumps in the lawn. If you have mounds of soil in your lawn that make it hard to mow, nightcrawlers may be the cause.”

Earthworms Damage to Home Lawns?

First account (Gautier 2004)

St Augustine grass lawn

Mole cricket damage

No mole crickets present

Earthworms abundant

Long Beach and Gulfport (2005)

• Residents complained of surface mounds

• Lawn care technicians report earthworm damage

• Four areas sampled for pests and soil characteristics

1 2 3 40

5

10

15

20

25

No

. wo

rms

pe

r sq

ft

Long Beach

Gulfport

(80%)

(1%)

(5%)(80%)

(Percent of area covered by turf in the 1 m x 1m plot)

Soil characteristics

Site Sample%

OM pH % Moisture

ppm of:

P K Mg Ca

Long Beach

1 6.4 20.3 200 88 160 1319

2 6.4 13.7 169 84 207 1440

3 7.3 21.5 366 98 120 2126

4 7.2 26.1 292 122 122 1983

Gulfport 1 6.2 4.8 8.4 66 110 143 726

2 3.7 5.3 8.2 49 88 120 705

3 5.1 6.2 14.3 42 116 194 1107

4 5.6 6.1 7.9 141 171 210 64

Site Sample%

OM pH % Moisture

ppm of:

P K Mg Ca

Long Beach

1 6.4 20.3 200 88 160 1319

2 6.4 13.7 169 84 207 1440

3 7.3 21.5 366 98 120 2126

4* 7.2 26.1 292 122 122 1983

Gulfport 1 6.2 4.8 8.4 66 110 143 726

2 3.7 5.3 8.2 49 88 120 705

3 5.1 6.2 14.3 42 116 194 1107

4 5.6 6.1 7.9 141 171 210 64

Soil characteristics

• Calcium, water content high in samples with more worms

• Earthworms do not prefer strongly acidic soils (pH 6.2-7.2)

• Abundant organic matter at all sites