Desert Blooms

  Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson This colorful rainbow grasshopper ( Dactylotum bicolor ) can be easy to find in desert grassland areas, but is not considered to be an economically important pest in our region. Photo credit Alan Levine (Wikimedia Commons). A few people have recently reported what appears to be grasshopper damage on a variety of landscape and garden plants. The telltale signs are 1) ragged, chewed holes in leaves, stems, and fruit, and 2) droppings (aka frass, insect excrement) that look kind of like little black ants without legs. Please note that circular, smooth holes on the edges of leaves are more likely to have been made by leaf-cutter bees, and are a welcome sign in my garden! “ A Manual of the Grasshoppers of New Mexico ” is a great NMSU online tool for all things grasshopper that includes ecology, economics, and a history of these interesting pests in New Mexico ( https://aces.nmsu.edu/academics/hoppers ). Also included are species descri

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson Nectarine Sap Exudate from Tiny Holes in Peel Created Bizarre Formation: Osmotic Pressure Inside Nectarines Forced Sap to Ooze Delicately REPRINT from June 2018 with an update added at the end! Figure 1. Sap exudate oozing out of these nectarines was whipped around by the wind before it had a chance to dry and solidify, making extremely rare decorative formations. Photo credit A. Arber, and more photos at the end of the article. Question:  What’s the deal with these clear, stiff, noodle-like formations on my nectarines? Have you ever seen anything like this?                                                        -           A. Arber, Albuquerque, NM     Answer:  Wow, I have never seen anything like this before! I shared your strange photos with several experts from around the state. All agree that the images show extremely rare, spiraling strands of hardened nectarine sap, but ther