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Roseau cane continues to die off at the mouth of the Mississippi River with no known cause. But LSU AgCenter scientists are studying multiple possibilities.
AgCenter entomologist Rodrigo Diaz is leading a group of federal and state researchers who are looking at the possible cause of the die-offs.
“We’re looking at a number of possible causes, but we can’t be sure until we put the pieces together,” he said.
Diaz and the group of scientists began their study in 2016, when the die-offs were discovered.
When the group began their study, they were mainly interested in roseau cane scale, an insect known to damage the plant.
But later, other scientists joined to look at pathogens that may be responsible.
“We know the scale is responsible for some of the damage, but we are working to see if there may be something else that’s aiding the problem,” Diaz said.
Each member of the group has an issue they are assigned to examine and to determine how much of the problem it can be causing.
Hannah Broadley, a researcher from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is leading a team to explore any natural enemies of the roseau cane scale in Asia.
Broadley recently visited Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, areas where the cane is native, to search for the scale’s natural enemies.
Scott Schneider, a USDA scientist, is looking at the genetics of the scale to determine the origin of the scale located here.
AgCenter coastal ecologist Andy Nyman is looking at what follows roseau cane dieback. He has found that after the die-offs, there sometimes is no roseau cane to replace it — just open water.
Other times, the roseau cane returns
Nyman is collaborating with the U.S. Geological Survey to use satellites to view images of the area that date back to the 1980s.
Ehab Meselhe, a scientist from Tulane University, is studying if channel dredging will be impacted by the absence of the cane.
“He wants to know what will happen if large stands of roseau cane die,” Diaz said.
“There are questions of whether there will be a need for more dredging once the cane is not there to prevent sedimentation in the navigation channel.”
AgCenter plant pathologist Rodrigo Valverde believes that more than one culprit is affecting the cane health. He is looking at the die-offs from a plant pathogen perspective.
Valverde is isolating potential pathogens from plants he’s collected and is growing cultures of some of them. His plan is to inoculate healthy roseau cane with the pathogens to see if they are causing disease or death.
“One thing that makes the entire situation more interesting is that there is not just one variety of roseau cane in Plaquemines Parish, but four: one from Africa, one from Central and South America, and two with European origins,” Diaz said.
Jim Cronin, a professor in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences, suspects multiple stressors could be affecting roseau cane health. He is studying host plant resistance and how the different varieties of cane handle stress.
“He is simulating various scenarios for the plants, including major stressors such flooding, insects, soil pathogens and nutrients to study the different varieties’ defensive chemistry,” Diaz said.
The team led by Diaz also is looking at population dynamics of the roseau cane scale.
“We have found that the scale can rapidly colonize the plants early in the spring, and by later summer almost 100% of the plants are infested. In addition, the roseau cane scale will not harm any other plant species, and three parasitoid wasps are responsible for up to 58% of the scale mortality,” Diaz said.
Using insecticides is not recommended to control the scale because scientists believe it will negatively effect the natural enemies.

The 2nd annual Guatemala Missions Golf Tournament was held Sept. 7 at The Atchafalaya at Idlewild near Patterson. Funds raised are used to give children educational opportunities.

Setting a gorgeous table for a holiday meal doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult, says interior designer Elizabeth Stuart. Sometimes, a simple design using just a few plants and candles can be more beautiful than an intricate display.
“There are no rules,” said Stuart, and you can plan a table that looks great from Thanksgiving all the way through the December holidays.
We’ve asked Stuart and two other experts — HGTV’s Vern Yip and interior designer Kyle Schuneman — for advice on centerpieces, color palettes and decorative touches to easily elevate a dining table for the holiday season.
COMFORT AND CONVERSATION
Yip begins with an important premise: Holiday meals are about people, not flower arrangements. So make sure your guests can see each other, without a vase of flowers or tall candles blocking their views.
Stuart suggests filling several small containers (silver cups meant for mint juleps, for example, can be inexpensive or real silver) with a few roses trimmed very short, and then adding a sprig of pine or holly.
“You scatter those down the table and then add tea lights in the middle,” she said, “and it’s exquisite.”
Also, said Yip, don’t crowd too many chairs around one table. Adding a second table is better than crushing people together. “It’s going to make the experience really unpleasant if you don’t give people enough elbow room to be able to pick up a drink or their utensils,” he said.
He advises leaving at least 24 inches between the center of one chair and the center of the next.
LET NATURE HELP
Schuneman is a fan of natural wood chargers (flat pieces of wood placed under dinner plates) to add simple beauty to a holiday table. “Using your simple white dishes, if you just add a simple wood slice charger under each plate and some fresh greens in the middle, you have a festive table for not a lot of money,” he said.
You don’t have to look beyond the grocery store for table decorations.
“Stores and boutiques have beautiful things for the holiday table,” Schuneman said, “but adding that sprig of rosemary to each napkin or a cascade of oranges and pinecones to the centerpiece elevates the whole table.”
Consider using live plants as a centerpiece rather than cut flowers. Stuart loves tiny boxwood topiaries with little colored flowers or herbs. Try arranging three rosemary topiaries on a silver tray, she said, then cluster some holly or pine cuttings along the bottom.
“Not only are they going to smell good,” she said, “but they’re going to last almost a month.”
GO NONTRADITIONAL
Don’t worry about tradition, Stuart said. Her design firm and retail store are in South Carolina, where it’s warm year-round. So while she loves using holly and pine in her Christmas decorating, sometimes she uses palm fronds from her yard.
She also uses shades of pink and plum, rather than sticking only to red and green. Embrace whatever delights you, she said. Or go beautifully neutral. All three designers say silver and white are great choices.
“I love adding winter sparkle. Whites layered with golds and silvers give you such a great backdrop,” Schuneman said.
Silver and white can brighten up dark winter nights, especially if they’ll be reflecting candlelight. (Candles are a key to creating a beautiful table, said Schuneman: “Candlelight mixed in glass votives, tall candlesticks and pillars will make any table glow and feel special.”)
Yip also encourages creative centerpieces: “Sometimes I’ll ask people to print their favorite photo from their past year. It could be a photo of a breathtaking vacation they went on or it could be a picture of their kid going back to school,” he said. “And I’ll frame those photos and kind of have them scattered down the center of the table.”
Another creative option: Ask each guest to bring a favorite book they’ve read in the past year. Arrange them on the table as decorations and conversation starters. At the end of the night, each guest can leave the party with a different book than they brought.