Door County Master Gardeners Present “Insects, Your Garden, and You” with Dr. Phil Pellitteri

Posted on 16. Mar, 2011 by in Gardening

The Door County Master Gardener Assoc. brings Phil Pellitteri, distinguished faculty associate at UW Madison and frequent Wisconsin Public Radio guest to speak at the Crossroads in Sturgeon Bay.

Dr. Pellitteri will present a free entomology program to the public on Tuesday, March 29, at 7 pm. Phil runs the insect diagnostic lab in Madison, identifies insects and recommends controls and teaches in the State of Wisconsin Master Gardener program. He is an expert in pest control, integrated pest management (IPM), mosquitoes in Wisconsin, and urban entomology.

He will address some of the topics that other speakers in the Master Gardener series this year are emphasizing, like minimizing maintenance and protecting the health of the environment with consideration of the fragile water quality and many special wild places in Door County, but from an entomologist’s viewpoint.  Some topics might include:

  • common beneficial insects in our gardens and how to protect/attract them
  • protecting pollinators and the role of native pollinators
  • the role of insects in maintaining biodiversity (and why is that important?)
  • the most beautiful insects in the garden and how to attract them
  • Door County’s endangered insects
  • integrated pest management
  • insect resistant varieties of plants (natural and genetically modified)
  • update on chemical use: new laws, new chemicals, new uses, especially for low maintenance/ natural gardens
  • role of insects in invasive species control, like purple loosestrife and spotted knapweed
  • what’s the latest on invasive insects like emerald ash borer?
  • question and answer session

As Phil Pellitteri says, “With 25,000 species it will not be hard coming up with critters and stories.”

The program is free and open to the public.

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