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Monday 8am - 5pm Tuesday 8am - 5pm Wednesday 8am - 5pm Thursday 8am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

http://extension.msstate.edu/msu-extension-tallahatchie-county

Tallahatchie County Extension Office, Charleston, MS (2026)

09/28/2026

IPM MVP Monday (Natural Enemies Edition) 🏆
Meet the Ground Beetles (Family: Carabidae)! 🪲
When most people think of beneficial insects, they often picture lady beetles or lacewings. But some of the hardest-working predators spend their days and nights on the ground. Ground beetles are important natural enemies in gardens, landscapes, and agricultural fields, where they help suppress a wide range of insect pests.
Ground beetles are typically dark brown, black, or metallic in color (ranging in a variety of colorful sheens) and have elongated bodies with long legs built for running. Most species are active at night and spend their days hiding under crop residue, rocks, mulch, logs, or leaf litter. Depending on the species, they can range from less than ¼ inch to over an inch long.
Both adults and larvae are predators. They feed on many common pests, including caterpillars, cutworms, armyworms, root maggots, wireworms, slugs, insect eggs, and other soft-bodied insects found on or near the soil surface. Some species will even climb plants to hunt for prey.
Ground beetles are especially valuable because they attack pests before they cause significant damage and often provide biological control throughout the growing season. In agricultural systems, they can be an important part of the natural enemy community that helps reduce pest pressure.
Want to encourage more ground beetles in your landscape? These insect like hiding spots that help them hide from you and birds.
🌱 Mulching, and cover crops, provide shelter and protection.
🌼 Increase plant diversity with flowering plants and diverse vegetation around fields and gardens.
🚜 Minimize unnecessary soil disturbance, when possible, as frequent tillage can disrupt ground beetle populations.
🚫 Avoid unnecessary broad-spectrum insecticide applications that may harm beneficial insects.
🔍 Scout before you spray. Ground beetles may already be helping manage pests beneath the plant canopy and at the soil surface.
🏡 To attract even more ground beetles at home; Create beetle-friendly habitat by maintaining mulch, ground cover, perennial borders, and small undisturbed areas where they can shelter during the day. Providing habitat is generally more effective than attempting to rear them directly.
💡 Did you know? Some ground beetle species can consume dozens of caterpillars, w**d seeds, or other pests during their lifetime. Because many are nocturnal, they often go unnoticed while providing valuable pest suppression after dark. 🦇
📸 Have you spotted a ground beetle in your garden, landscape, or crop field? Share your photos in the comments!

Photo Credits:
1) six-spotted tiger beetle: David Cappaert, Bugwood.org
2) Cold-country caterpillar hunter: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources - Forestry, Bugwood.org
3) Six-spotted tiger beetles: Linda Haugen, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org
4) Caterpillar Hunter: Emilie Bess, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org
5) Caterpillar Hunter Larva: Gyorgy Csoka, Hungary Forest Research Institute, Bugwood.org
6) Tiger beetle (metalic): Jessica Louque, Smithers Viscient, Bugwood.org
7) Large foliage ground beetle: Ken Chamberlain, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org
😎 Ground Beetle: Merle Shepard, Gerald R.Carner, and P.A.C Ooi, Insects and their Natural Enemies Associated with Vegetables and Soybean in Southeast Asia, Bugwood.org

09/25/2026

There are a few days left to complete our survey and enter to win a $15 gift card! More importantly you will be giving input into what programs you wish to see our office bring to our Tallahatchie County community! Use the QR code in the flyer or the link below to access the survey.

https://msudafvm.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6EZeARSa4mUPs3Q

09/22/2026

School is in session and many kids come home ready to eat! What are your go-to after school snacks? Tell us in the comments below so we can all get some fresh ideas!
For more snacks, including recipes, check out MSU Extension publication, “Healthy Snacks for Kids on the Go or At Home” at School is in session and many kids come home ready to eat! What are your go-to after school snacks? Tell us in the comments below so we can all get some fresh ideas!
For more snacks, including recipes, check out MSU Extension publication, “Healthy Snacks for Kids on the Go or At Home” at https://extension.msstate.edu/.../healthy-snacks-for-kids...

09/21/2026

🏆 IPM MVP Monday 🏆 (Natural Enemies Edition 🐞)
💚 Meet the Chrysopidae spp., the Green Lacewings! 💚
Often called "aphid lions," green lacewings are among the most important natural enemies found in gardens, landscapes, and crop systems. While the adults appear delicate and graceful, both adults and larvae can play a significant role in suppressing pest populations.
Adult green lacewings are easily recognized by their bright green bodies, golden eyes, and distinctive lace-like wings. Many species feed on pollen, nectar, and honeydew, helping them survive and reproduce in a variety of habitats. Some species, particularly those in the genus Chrysopa, are also known to feed on aphids, mites, whiteflies, scales, thrips, and other small arthropods.
The larvae are where green lacewings truly earn their reputation as pest-fighting champions. These alligator-shaped predators 🐊, equipped with large sickle-like mandibles (mouthparts), actively hunt soft-bodied insects such as aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, scales, and thrips. If you look closely, you may spot a lacewing larva carrying debris, including insect remains, or other materials on its back. This remarkable camouflage helps conceal it from predators like birds while it continues its hunt protecting your garden.
🌻 Flowering plants in the Asteraceae family, such as sunflowers, dandelions, and coreopsis, may serve as attractants for more green lacewings to your landscape as they can provide valuable nectar and pollen resources for adults.
🤔 Did you know? There are actually several species of green lacewings, each with unique behaviors and ecological roles.
📸 Have you seen a green lacewing in your garden, landscape, or crop field? Share your photos in the comments!
🕷️🌱🐞
Photo Credits:
Photo 1, Lacewing larva: Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org
Photo 2, Lacewing larva with debris on back: Susan Ellis, Bugwood.org
Photo 3, Lacewing eggs: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org
Photo 4, Lacewing adult: Ken Chamberlain, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org
Photo 5, Lacewing adult: Johnny N. Dell, Bugwood.org

09/20/2026

Here's your veggie planting guide for September! Some of the vegetables you can plant in the garden this month include...
Leeks
Onions
Green onions
Mustard greens
Collards
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Brussel sprouts
Broccoli
Spinach
Lettuce
English peas
Beets
Carrots
Celery
Planting times will vary by area.
Read our Mississippi Vegetable Gardener's Guide for TONS of great info: https://extension.msstate.edu/publications/mississippi-vegetable-gardeners-guide?fbclid=IwY2xjawUP44xwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUhSeXhLOFRnZ1J1b2NOWGdzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe2xFFUgGxz8uYH6WI_BaAH7aZlZZcqB5kBubvHK1mwF93kdC69JtzB9lCo5g_aem_Cko9t5QBgQ88eiXEr__LDA

09/19/2026

Gulf Muhly grass (a Mississippi native grass) really struts its stuff in the fall and winter!
This grass has a unique texture with spiky, upright leaves that have summer interest. But it’s the plant’s last, grand flourish that really creates landscape excitement. The grass flowers in billowy masses that resemble pink clouds in the landscape. As long as there isn’t a hard freeze, the color will hold all winter. Even after freezing temperatures, the flower heads keep their airy shape.
Now is a great time to plant this native grass. Select a landscape site that receives at least six hours of full sun during the day. Turn over the soil, and work in at least 3 to 4 inches of quality compost. Always set the plant a little bit higher than the native grade of the landscape bed. This aids in drainage, which is always important in our Mississippi landscapes and gardens.
Carefully consider spacing needs. While a mass planting of Gulf muhly grass is gorgeous, these plants need their individual space. Each plant can grow up to 4 feet wide, so plant on 3-foot centers.
Like all ornamental grasses, there is really only one maintenance item that can’t be neglected. In late winter, cut the grass clumps back to 6 inches before the spring growth starts. This trimming will clear the way for the new foliage and result in a nicely formed clump. Don’t be tempted to cut back any earlier, because then you will remove the dry inflorescences that create movement with the wind and habitat for wildlife.
There are similar plants called muhly grass that have similar landscape performance, but most of these have white flower heads. Most garden centers will just lump the different species together and call them muhly grass.
Regardless of what they are called, muhly grass should be in your landscape. Just remember that it’s Gulf Muhly grass, known botanically as Muhlenbergia capilaris, that has the pink flower heads.

09/18/2026

Have you always wondered what the difference is between green, red and yellow bell peppers?
The variety and amount of time a bell pepper spends on the plant determines its color and ripeness!
Green bell peppers appear first and are the least ripe. As they mature, they usually turn another color.
This may be yellow, orange, red, or purple. There are even some bell pepper varieties that mature to nearly white or almost black in color.
Color isn’t their only difference. Nutrient content and taste also vary among bell pepper varieties!
Nutrients
If you want to up your Vitamin C intake, you can try adding bell peppers to your diet. All bell peppers contain Vitamin C. It is an essential nutrient that helps the body repair tissues and heal wounds. Vitamin C also helps your body absorb iron. Green and red bell peppers, respectively, have two and three times more Vitamin C than an orange.
Bell peppers also contain Vitamins B6, K, A, and E along with minerals and antioxidants. As bell peppers ripen, their cancer-fighting antioxidant properties change. Lutein and zeaxanthin are found in green bell peppers and are important for our eye health. Violaxanthin is found in yellow bell peppers, and capsanthin makes fully mature bell peppers red. Red bell peppers, which are the most nutrient-dense, also contain lycopene.
Taste
As bell peppers ripen, they get sweeter. Green bell peppers are slightly bitter and the least sweet, while red bell peppers are the sweetest.

09/17/2026

Registration is now open for our Excellence in Tourism Leadership Program! This program is designed to help tourism professionals and community leaders strengthen their leadership skills while putting what they learn into practice in their own organizations and communities. The program combines professional development, networking, and applied projects that lead to tangible results.
Participants who take advantage of early registration will have the opportunity to attend the program’s in person session held in conjunction with the Mississippi Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Oxford on October 6. This is a great opportunity to begin the program while connecting with tourism professionals and leaders from across the state.
Early registration and program information can be found here: https://ow.ly/X8tm50ZJyxl

09/16/2026

Plaster Bagworm
Phereoeca uterella
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Tineidae
"We have things that look like seed crawling up the wall in the garage. What are they?”

Plaster bagworms, a.k.a. household casebearers, belong to the same family as clothes moths. The caterpillars live inside flattened, oval-shaped, brown to gray bags that are around ½ inch long when the caterpillars are fully mature. These bags superficially resemble seed of squash or some other plant. The caterpillars move by extending their bodies forward, grasping the surface with their legs and mandibles and drawing the bag forward. There is an opening at each end, allowing the caterpillars to switch ends when they need to change directions. Household casebearers are usually associated with spider webs, feeding on the web as well as the dried dead insect parts located there.

Spider webs are one of their favorite foods, but they can also feed on wool and other animal-based fibers, including silk, feathers and accumulations of human hair and dandruff. On rare occasions they damage clothing and other fabrics. Infestations often originate under furniture, light fixtures, closets or other out of the way places where spider webs and dead insects accumulate. Plaster bagworms are more common in the southern portion of the state, presumably because of their preference for high humidity. Heaviest infestations are often seen in garages, carports, storage rooms and similar non-air-conditioned sites with lots of spider webs.

Larvae wander about just before pupating, and this is when most infestations are noticed. Heavy infestations most commonly occur in situations with high humidity. The adults are small, inconspicuous moths that are rarely noticed. When resting with wings folded, the tan to brown moths are about ¼ inch long with a fringe of long hairs at the tips of the wings. Like most clothes moths, they have fuzzy heads covered with short hairs.

Control: For general infestations in rooms and storage areas, vacuuming and cleaning the infested area is usually all that is required. The caterpillars can be killed by spraying with products that contain pyrethroid insecticides such as cyfluthrin, deltamethrin, bifenthrin, cyhalothrin, or permethrin and are labeled for use in the sites being treated, but the bags, and the spider webs, must still be removed by vacuuming or sweeping. Infestations in clothing and other fabrics should be treated as for clothes moths. See pages 16-19 of Extension Publication 2443, Control Household Insect Pests.

For information on insects that most commonly damage clothing and other fabrics see these short articles on: varied carpet beetles, case-bearing clothes moths, and webbing clothes moths.
Written by MSU Extension Entomologist Dr. Blake Layton. View the full BEV archive here: https://extension.msstate.edu/newsletters/bugs-eye-view

09/15/2026

The new edition of Forage News has been released! This edition is about a new pest threat to forage production: The Pasture Mealybug.

Tallahatchie County Extension Office

09/28/2026

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09/22/2026

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