Our speaker was Konnie Jerabek from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.  She covers many aspects of an 11 county area in NW Wisconsin.  Her job is to help growers find pest and diseases as well as moving product safely.  Her presentation is entitled “They are coming for you…they might already be here!”

She told us about 5 immediate threats:

            Gypsy Moths, they have traps every 3 miles.

            Emerald Ash Borer is a threat to Urban Areas

            Hemlock Scale attacks the Christmas Tree Industry

            Lantern Fly hurts fruit but are not here yet.

            Asian Long Horn Beetle attacks healthy maples and can be moved in firewood – now int the eastern states and trying to remove the risk to Wisconsin.

 

There are nine other nursery inspectors in the state who often work as a group with vital sharing of information.

Anything exported out of the country needs inspections – mostly in the lumber industry following logs from yard to ship to final port.

Currently they are in the midst of seed inspections.  There is a germination test date on each bag which will show a shelf life.  One can’t sell seed that is out of date, but it can be retested.

 

Every state has their own method of tracing plants by inspection.

 

There is a list of invasive plants that was developed in 2015. It is a 5 year list to phase out prohibitive or restricted plants and all should have been dealt with by now.  However, many are still out there.  Some of these plants used to be decorative but now need to be destroyed or moved to a state where they are not prohibited.  see list here.

 

Non-profits can have unregulated sales once a year.

 

Below you will find info that Konnie shared: Resources you can use.

 

Time was up and Konnie had so much more to share with us.  We asked if she could present us with a “Part 2” and it was decided we would forgo our Club Conversations next week and give Konnie an opportunity to do a brief recap and finish her presentation.  The club was in agreement.  We will record the meeting as well as invite the Garden Club and any other interested Community Members to join the Zoom Meeting.

 

Members who know of someone who would be interested should invite them to join us and send the zoom link to them when it arrives.  You can forward this Norsk News in order to give them a taste of Konnies’  Information.