Winter Moth Damage

David Epstein: Hi, this is David Epstein. This is Growing Wisdom. I’m here with Dave Ropes of Tree Specialists. And Dave we’re looking at winter moth damage around some neighborhoods today. And that we came across this tree which has some pretty good damage doesn’t it? Dave Ropes: This area was hit very hard this year. The damage that the pest does is to the foliage and reduces the photosynthetic capacity, the ability of the tree to produce food over the coming growing seasons. Plants that are defoliated to this extent are going to be forced to produce a new set of leaves because they really can’t afford to take some more off as it were. And that really requires a tremendous amount of resources, water and food materials. David Epstein: So, average home owner, what can they do to kind of help, help Mr. Tree whose going to put up all these new leaves. Dave Ropes: Yes, I mean, so what you’re dealing with is recovering patient that’s going to need watering, perhaps fertilizing, and mulching to trap moisture and to recycle nutrients down into the soil. David Epstein: You were noticing something with the Crimson King over there on the ground that you’ve pointed out to me. Talk about that a little bit. Dave Ropes: Well, it’s very common under Maple trees to have porter and so rain tends to run right off and also you’re not getting a good aeration. You’ve got to pay closer attention to their growing conditions to give it a little bit of an edge as it goes to this special time. David Epstein: All right, so this year, I didn’t do anything. This is my damage. What does this mean for next year? Dave Ropes: Well, if you see this much damage that means you have a lot of insects that are well fed and they’re going to produce a large breeding population. So, you’re going to really want to make arrangements over this coming winter to be on a spray control program so that you’re taking care of the caterpillars for the next spring. David Epstein: So Dave, like any other pass, they probably have their favorite meals. What’s its favorite meal? Dave Ropes: Well, they seem to really like Maples. They also love fruit trees, cherries, apples, pears, even the ornamental fruit trees. But when they’re hungry, they’ll eat just about any deciduous plant. David Epstein: And if I just have smaller trees around my yard and I can use a hand sprayer, what products can I look for especially if I want to be more organic to help control those? Dave Ropes: You can use BT, Bacillus Thuringiensis or Spinosad. But if you have a lot of larger overstorey trees in the area, the caterpillars are going to feed on that and then drop down on to the fruit tree and that’s going to be potential feeding areas. David Epstein: Dave, it would be very difficult with these trees being so high that even with a step ladder to get those. So, that’s where you want to have a certified arborist over your property to really do that. Dave Ropes: Yes, absolutely. David Epstein: Dave, thanks for your time. Excellent information! And speaking of information, for you folks, we’re going to put down some more technical, scientific information underneath the video. You’ll have to go to Growing Wisdom to get that information and of course we want you to come back every week for all of our updates, all of our videos, here at Growing Wisdom.