Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 21, 1994                   TAG: 9401210058
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AS FOR THE INSECTS, PLENTY WILL SURVIVE

An extended period of colder-than-normal weather - such as that afflicting Western Virginia this winter - will kill many insect pests, a Virginia Tech expert says. But many others will survive to greet gardeners and homeowners when warm weather returns.

"Insects, of course, are adaptable to cold temperatures; otherwise they wouldn't be here anymore," said Bill Ravlin, an extension entomologist at Virginia Tech.

The lack of an insulating snow cover may prove a threat to insects that are adapted to live where there is snow, Ravlin said.

Insects can survive a normal range of temperatures, but many will not be able to tolerate the below-normal temperatures, he said.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say there wouldn't be any insects this year," Ravlin added.

And cold weather doesn't discriminate between pests and those considered beneficial to humans. For instance, ladybug beetles, which help control damaging aphids will be affected by the weather just like the insect pests, Ravlin said.

But then again, some pests thrive in the cold temperatures.

Gypsy moths, for instance, require cold temperatures to be able to survive the winter, Ravlin said. Researchers found after the warm winters of 1990 and 1991 that gypsy moth numbers in Virginia had declined at the lower elevations, he said.

A more immediate concern than insects for homeowners is the damage that cold, dry weather can directly inflict on vegetation.

For plants, the biggest threat a winter like this poses is from drying out. Extreme drying can kill plants.

"Plants will lose a lot of water through their limbs, even dormant plants," said Charlie O'Dell, an extension horticulturist at Tech.

Cold temperatures are not as harmful when snow is on the ground, O'Dell said. A little snow cover can make temperatures warmer at a plant's root structure, O'Dell said.

O'Dell said he would have felt better if the region had gotten the 4 inches of snow that had been predicted toward the end of Monday's storm. "Snow is Mother Nature's finest mulch," he said.

It will be important, if the winter stays dry, for people to water their plants as soon as the ground is able to take water, O'Dell said.