PHC Matters

Malvern, Pennsylvania – March 15, 2023- Burkholder PHC has recently been recognized for several notable Plant Health Care discoveries and occurrences. Starker Wright, manager of Burkholder PHC, has been directly involved in the following: Federal quarantine identification of white rust on chrysanthemum, confirmed by USDA-APHIS. First active sampling program in Penns…

Mosquitoes have long been considered summertime pests. You know that mosquitoes are annoying with their high-pitched buzzing on hot summer nights, and that their bites lead to itchy skin. Did you know that these insects pose health risks to animals and people? Mosquitoes are actually a major risk to human and animal health. Mosquito borne diseases are spread through …

Corrective pruning is a technique meant to maintain or enhance a tree’s health by removing dead, diseased, weak, or otherwise unhealthy or unsafe branches. Corrective pruning can be beneficial to both the tree or shrub as well as the landscape as a whole. See Our Pruning Before and After Gallery Benefits of Corrective Pruning The main benefit of corrective pr…

Growth regulators are a group of chemicals used to modify the various growth processes in plants. These chemicals help with many issues in a plant’s lifecycle, including suppressing vegetative growth and stimulating flowering, controlling plant height, enhancing plant branching, and enabling plants to flower during short-day conditions (during late fall and winter). …

Phytophthora root rot is a common fungal disease that afflicts many plants outdoors and indoors. The condition causes rotting within the plant stem and roots. Young plants are particularly prone to the adverse effects of the disease, but many plants, trees and shrubs can be affected. This article will focus on the causes, symptoms, and potential remedies that may hel…

Adult Japanese beetles are highly destructive plant pests that feed on more than 300 species of ornamental plants. As the insect has spread, more Pennsylvania homeowners have found their landscapes harmed. Ornamental trees, shrubs, and flowers are at risk of being targeted by the beetle, and we want to help you keep your landscape safe and free from these invasive pe…

In May of 2021, we began seeing darkened stems and black moldy growth on crape myrtles in Chester County, carrying over from an insect infestation in the fall of 2020. To recognize that these symptoms were not caused by crape myrtle aphids (common), samples were collected and submitted to the Insect Diagnostic Laboratory at Penn State. These samples revealed the firs…

There is consensus among plant health care professionals that the complex of insect and disease pests in landscape plants is becoming more explosive, harder to predict, and more difficult to manage. As invasive pests like Asian longhorn beetle (1998), brown marmorated stink bug (1998), emerald ash borer (2002), and spotted lanternfly (2014) have been brought in throu…

We all love reindeer, but when local deer begin destroying property, some sort of deer repellent action may need to be taken. The deer population in Pennsylvania is estimated to be around 1.5 million, so much that you have probably seen deer around your neighborhood, especially if you live in a rural or suburban area. And as much as we enjoy seeing deer in nature, th…