Boxelder Bug

Boxelder bugs(Boisea trivittatus, Family Rhopalidae, scentless plant bugs) are common insects from mid-summer through fall, and sometimes in spring. The gray and red adults are about ½ inch long. Nymphs (immatures) are bright red with darker heads and look like the adults, but without developed wings. They tend to be most abundant after summers when […]

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Hempcrete

What is Hempcrete? Hempcrete is a bio-composite made of the inner woody core of the hemp plant mixed with a lime-based binder. The hemp core or “Shiv” has a high silica content which allows it to bind well with lime. This property is unique to hemp among all natural fibers. The result is a lightweight […]

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Hemp Batteries

Hemp Batteries Last 8X Longer than Lithium, Outperforming Graphene for 1000th of the Cost Replacing lithium batteries with hemp would make electric cars (and all our other gadgets) WAY more sustainable! Is there anything hemp can’t do? A year after hemp became legal to grow in the United States, we’ve seen its power to make […]

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Rain Barrels

What is a rain barrel? A rain barrel can be any large container designed to collect rain water. Typically, rain barrels are placed at the bottom of downspouts in order to collect rain as it runs off of a roof. For every inch of rain that falls on 1,000 square feet of roof, about 600 […]

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How to Deal with Japanese Beetles

Managing Japanese Beetle Adults & Grubs While Minimizing Impacts on Pollinators Established in Wisconsin in the 1990s, the Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a voracious defoliator of many landscape and garden plants. Roses, birches, lindens, grapes, raspberries, Norway maples, beans, apples, plums, crabapples, elms, beech, asparagus, and rhubarb are some of its favorite plant species. Typically, Japanese […]

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Asian Giant Hornets, or a look-alike?

Lately, we are getting many questions, and submissions of insects suspected to be Asian Giant Hornets for identification by our our Agriculture Educator, Kaitlyn Davis. Most of these submissions have been the Cicada Killer Wasp. Click for more information!

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