Oh no! What’s that on your tree? Creepy crawlies eating your leaves? We’ve seen elevated levels of pest infestations all across the city this summer.
Some common pests that you may have on your trees and shrubs are Japanese beetles, aphids and Fall webworms. But have no fear, we have the solutions to all your pest problems!
Japanese Beetle
Japanese Beetles are particularly troublesome because they don’t really discriminate when it comes to what types of plants they eat. They damage plants by skeletonizing the leaves – this means they eat only the leaf material between the veins.
Appearance: Adult Japanese beetles have copper bodies and green heads.
Our solution:
- We install high-impact beetle traps to keep these pests away from your trees
- When needed, we apply a spray application to control these critters
Photo credit: Bruce Marlin [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]
Aphids
Aphids are a very common pest. Aphids are sap-suckers – draining the sap from your foliage and, with a heavy infestation, can cause yellowing, wilting, and curling of the leaves, as well as stunting new growth. As they suck the sap from your leaves, they secrete a sticky substance called “Honeydew”. The honeydew drips on the leaves (and anything under your tree, like furniture or cars!) and attracts ants and sometimes even wasps.
Appearance: Aphids have small pear-shaped bodies. They can be bright green, yellow, brown, red or black depending on the species.
Our solution:
- We use a foliar soap spray to kill the bugs
- We release a type of midge called Aphidoletes. The Aphidoletes lay their eggs amongst aphid colonies. The larvae hatch and inject a toxin into the aphids’ legs. The larvae will then eat the aphids. One of these Aphidoletes can eat 50 aphids in one day!
Photo Credit: Jacopo Werther [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]
Fall Webworm
Fall webworm is mostly identified by the large, webbed nests they build on tree limbs. The webs are similar to those made by tent caterpillars, but are larger and messier-looking. This insect appears in late summer through early fall. They will eat the entire leaf of their host tree.
Appearance: The caterpillars range from pale yellow to dark grey in colour. They have yellow spots and short bristles.
Our Solution:
- A foliar spray treatment of BTK to control the infestation
- You can also manually remove the caterpillar nests
Photo Credit: Alison Hunter – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1077068
After suffering an infestation of any of these pesky pests, we can also help your trees bounce-back with a treatment of our custom ArborGain™ biostimulant and soil conditioner. This will ease the stress put on your tree by the infestation and give it the tools it needs to come back healthy and strong.
Call us today for a free consultation!
Be good to your trees!
Kristie Nairn, MA, MMst
Cohen & Master Tree and Shrub Services Ltd.
