Sumter County Clemson Extension

10/06/2026

Here is an opportunity to help renovate the Monarch Waystation at Lee State Park and learn more about these habitats. Check out the link below.

Spend the morning with Clemson Extension identifying plants, learning about pollinators, and restoring a pollinator habitat.

09/10/2026

Are your Crape Myrtle trees losing their leaves already? Do their leaves have spots on them like shown in the photos above? If so, your trees have Cercospora Leaf Spot which is a warm-season fungal disease that can cause significant late-summer defoliation. This disease typically occurs during periods of warm, moist weather. It can result in almost complete defoliation of the tree in late summer and fall in susceptible cultivars. Providing good air circulation and avoiding overcrowding of plantings will help prevent the disease.

If the disease is severe enough to warrant the use of chemicals for control, the following fungicides will control the disease: Thiophanate-methyl or Myclobutanil. Apply according to the directions. Hopefully, this will help get your trees back to a healthy state.

The HGIC fact sheet below has more information on cercospora and other diseases and pests of crape myrtles in South Carolina, as well as a list of disease resistant varieties.

https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/crape-myrtle-diseases-insect-pests/

09/04/2026

https://www.sumteramericanlegionfair.com/

Join us at the Sumter American Legion Fair, where fun and community come together for an unforgettable experience!

08/24/2026

Come support our 4-H youth and hear what they’ve learned.

Come out and learn something! 🙂

08/22/2026

Rain barrels, not just for watering plants.

08/06/2026

Someone just sent me this picture of a caterpillar she could not identify. This is an azalea leaf caterpillar. As the name suggests they mainly feed on the leaves of azaleas but other trees and shrubs can be hosts. They are not a major pest but they can defoliate an azalea pretty quickly once they get large enough. There are very effective and widely available options for control including hand picking. See the included fact sheet link for more information.

https://extension.msstate.edu/newsletters/bugs-eye-view/2018/bugs-eye-view-azalea-leaf-caterpillar-vol-4-no-23

07/09/2026

05/29/2026

Many of you may have been seeing dieback in your callery (think Bradford) pears this spring as shown in the photos. In fact, it has been so widespread in the Midlands that you can pretty reliably identify callery pears at highways speeds. This is fire blight, one of the most destructive bacterial infections of apple, pear and other species in the rose family. The fact sheet below gives an extensive look at this disease.

https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/fire-blight-of-fruit-trees/

If that weren't enough, you may also be seeing orange tentacles growing on the small developing callery pear fruit. This is likely quince rust, but testing would be needed to confirm. It is destructive in apple and pear as well. However, in callery pear it is doing us a favor by destroying fruit and reducing seed set. If you needed one more reason to get rid of the callery pear trees on your property, well, that's two.

Remember to mark your calendar for dates for spring pear bounty events to get yourself a free, new tree in exchange for cutting down your callery pear.

https://www.clemson.edu/extension/bradford-pear/

05/26/2026

On Friday, we will officially be a drop-off depot for Mother's Milk Bank! Join us as we celebrate a new resource for families in Sumter County and help provide life-saving donor milk to babies in need.

05/13/2026

This is an example although a rather sad one of why it is important to read herbicide labels and to know the difference between a brand name and the active ingredient. I was called to a pecan orchard where most of the 100+ year old trees trees had died over the winter. It is common for pecan orchards to apply glyphosate around trees to reduce w**d competition, and this is low risk when done properly. The owner of this orchard was doing the same for years using a very popular brand of glyphosate. Unfortunately this brand changed its active ingredient from glyphosate to a combination of triclopyr, fluazifop, and diquat. Triclopyr is a brush killer which outright killed most of the pecan trees and left a few damaged. The trees nearest the farm fields faired the best because of fertilizer applications that strengthened them.