So, Mike, you've got a world here that is fascinating from just my visual, I'll say survey of it and I cringe looking at it.

>>Yeah.

>>But also, you've got some beautiful things way down deep under there.

And that's just- >>Well, again, I think this is the beauty of having microscopes.

You can see some of the incredible wonders of the world that most people just walk by.

>>Yes.

>>So I brought a bunch that we can see today, just a smattering.

So, we'll start off with something that's beautiful.

This is, it looks like a globe with all these orange projections on it.

>>Yes.

>>This is what we call rust.

And rust is a fungus that there's a lot of different ones out there, but they have this orange or rusty color to them.

And if you can see on the picture here that the little dust on there, those are spores.

So each one of these horns probably contains tens of thousands, if not, you know, hundreds of thousands of spores.

So now you're looking at amplifying the total numbers.

This is how they're successful.

>>Yes, they just saturate the environment with it.

>>Absolutely.

>>And saturate your garden.

>>Just like pollen.

>>Yes.

(Mike chuckles) But that Serviceberry's so cute and wonderful, but when it gets rust, it's quite dangerous, so.

>>Yeah.

>>To itself, I'll say, >>And this is from my house.

>>Yes.

>>I don't do anything about it.

I just let it go and the plants tolerates it, but- >>That's what I've found.

>>But it is marvelous.

>>But also, you can see even smaller and you've brought in some, ooh, I hate to say it, Asian needle ants, just to show people how small we can go and- >>Yeah, this is another, I will say it's a fairly prolific insect in Chesterfield.

It's not relegated here, it's all over Virginia.

>>Yes.

>>But this is one that's easy to identify if you have a microscope, because it is exceedingly small.

But what it lacks in size, it makes up with its sting.

[Peggy] Oh, my, and I've been stung by this thing, so- >>Yeah, the Japanese call this insect the arai-ari, and we call it the Asian needle ant.

So, but it's painful.

And people who are sensitive to venom should be aware that you need to have your EpiPen near with you 'cause it's a powerful stinger.

>>It certainly is.

And you know, that's so tiny and it's so hard to see.

And we also have some other things that are tiny.

I love showing people this wonderful powdery mildew, which they see on the top and they think, "Oh, there it is."

But to see it under magnification.

>>Yeah, this is, again, powdery mildew, especially on the (indistinct) and some of the notables, you can actually ID that, you know, walking pace or even, you know, slow speed on a car.

But under the microscope, you start to see this incredible beauty of this organism.

And it's just a spore production facility, that's all it's doing.

The fungus is inside, taking some of the nutrients, but on top, it is producing spores that, you know, and just increase this disease.

So, again, numbers.

>>Yeah, numbers do it.

>>Yeah.

>>But something very different, though.

You know, not all diseases and problems behave the same.

So here we have this peony.

>>Yeah, this was new to our lab this year.

This is a virus.

And you can see in the center of the picture here, this yellow ring, we call this a ring spot.

Obviously, we don't stay up late naming things.

>>No.

(laughs) >>But it's a virus.

It's called Tobacco Rattle Virus.

And the reason it's called that is because that's the plant it was found on first.

So, the virus naming is really kind of cumbersome.

But again, it's a virus that's vectored by nematodes.

So, if you have a planting of these in your landscape, you need to get 'em out of there quickly.

>>Yes.

>>So, but have it ID'd at your local extension office first.

>>Because the nematodes live in the soil.

Don't make an assumption.

>>Exactly.

>>You know, get it confirmed.

Another oddball one that people always walk by and say, "What is this?"

>>This is one of my favorite.

This is a leaf gall.

And I don't know if we can get, there we go.

And you'll see there's actually a mite running around there.

That's actually a beneficial mite just happened to be here.

I think it's not camera-shy.

>>I was gonna say you didn't pay him to be there.

(laughs) >>No.

But that's also another thing we need to appreciate is that there are other creatures that are working for us on these plants.

So if we come in with pesticides, they also fall victim to it.

So, but anyway, this is an insect gall.

It's very dramatic if you see it on grape.

It almost looks like Christmas elves.

>>Yeah.

>>It's so red, it's as red as your shirt.

But this is, again, just the nature and natural and normal insect world.

So, I really like all these.

>>Yes.

They're so fun.

Let's finish up though, with this one, which has taken the city by storm.

>>Yeah.

This is unfortunate that this is now a common problem.

This is called Crepe Myrtle Bark Scale.

And it's quite characteristic.

You can see there's a lot of pollen still on here but- >>Those are the irregularly shaped little flex.

>>Yeah, but the large cottony mast that is nothing but an egg mass, that's a egg factory.

And, oh, yes, they did come out.

See those little pink things?

>>Yes, I do.

>>Lemme see if I can get 'em.

>>There's one moving.

>>Yep.

>>Yeah.

>>Those are the crawlers.

>>Yeah, those are the crawlers.

And so, right now, in Central Virginia, these are hatching.

And so this is now a good time to come in with even, you know, safer soap or something like that.

>>Low-impact- >>Oil, yeah.

>>Low-impact products.

You kill the crawlers, then you diminish.

You don't cure, you diminish.

>>That's fantastic.

Well, Mike, thank you for giving us a glimpse of that special alien world underneath.

>>Yeah.

>>As you like to say.

>>Yeah, no passport needed.

>>No passport needed, so thank you.

>>(laughs) You're welcome, thank you.