News Stories - Page 446

Thrips, tiny insects that can carry a deadly crop disease, have weathered south Georgia’s winter better than usual. Farmers should think about taking precautions this spring.

At Valdosta High School, about 20 miles above the Georgia-Florida line, heat indexes regularly climb above 110 degrees during the summer. With football camp under way, coaches and trainers can use an index at www.georgiaweather.net to help players avoid heat stroke.

When chill winds blow, the cozy warmth inside your home is inviting. That's why the scorpions, wasps and other uninvited pests show up there. They're called incidental invaders, and they can teach you something about your house.

Remnants of three September hurricanes that ravaged Florida brought areas in Georgia up to 8 inches of rain and 58 mile-per-hour winds, according to data collected by the University of Georgia.

Urticating caterpillars give you hives. No, really. The technical term for hives is urticaria. And one of the things that can cause it is a caterpillar.

The cicadas soon filling the north Georgia woods with "song" won't quite be old enough to vote in this year's elections. But after spending 17 years maturing underground, they'll be among the oldest living insects in the world.

Lady beetles have long been viewed as good bugs. Most people aren't scared of them, and very few want to kill them with insect spray. But that's quickly changing.

One of the most common questions asked county extension agents is how to grow healthy turf grass under trees. It can be frustrating when you plant over and over and watch the turf get thinner and thinner as the tree canopy thickens.

Extremely moist soils, combined with higher-than-normal river and lake levels, make Georgia primed for major flooding. Adding to the concern, the state is in the midst of hurricane season, prompting emergency management officials and climatology experts to encourage Georgians to make flood preparations before the waters start to rise.