How To Protect Trees From Insects and Pests In Texas

How To Protect Trees From Insects and Pests In Texas

Jul 21, 2021 | News

How To Protect Trees From Insects and Pests In Texas

We take pride in the fact that everything’s bigger in Texas, except when it comes to the insects that destroy our trees and urban forests. With a little effort, you can protect your trees from insects and pests.

The Texas A&M Forest Service reports the culprits behind two out of every three trees killed in Texas are insects and diseases. The first step to solving the pest problem is to identify what’s bugging your trees.

Meet the Culprits

The abundant vegetation of North Texas also means abundant pests. You can take proactive measures to protect your lawn and yard from both winter and summer pests. But the insects that attack your trees are often tougher to spot. Here are the most troublesome pests.

They look like teeny-tiny spiders, with eight legs. If you notice the color of your leaves fading and curling, or what looks like a fine web, you’ll want to take a closer look. If you detect spider mites, a regular pesticide won’t work. Make sure the packaging says “miticide,” or get a mite-killing soap and hose the affected trees down with a strong spray.

Bagworms like evergreen trees, so your juniper, cedar, and other trees of this type are vulnerable. The pest gets its name from the bags produced by the caterpillars, which they carry around from the time they hatch until they begin their pupal stage. The easiest way to get rid of them is to pick the bags off your trees by hand. You can also give them a good strong spray-down. Do NOT leave the bags laying around on the ground.

This non-native pest has only made its mark within the last couple of decades. Crape myrtle bark scale looks like white or gray waxy deposits and sooty mold on the trunks and large twigs of crape myrtles and likes to get under the bark to feed — where it’s also harder to treat.

Certain systemic insecticides help. Natural predators, like ladybugs, are also an effective way to get this pest under control.

There are multiple species of lace bug, and each one generally prefers a certain type of vegetation. You might find one species in your oak trees and another in your lantana. They like to suck on the underside of leaves, leaving behind brown or yellow spots. If an infestation is bad enough, it can kill the tree. Systemic insecticides are a good control, although slower than contact insecticides. Should you spray down your plants and trees with insecticides, make sure you are coating the underside of the leaves to get these pests.

The EAB has been on the move in the United States since it was discovered in Michigan in 2002. Now, it’s been spotted in Tarrant County, and that leaves ash trees in Texas vulnerable to the insect. First — if you think your trees are affected by the emerald ash borer, call the Forest Services EAB hotline at 866-322-4512.

If you chop down an infected tree, don’t move the wood. While it’s easy to burn, lots of tree pests hop from firewood to healthy trees.

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Insecticides applied at the right time can protect your ash trees from the EAB. Keep in mind, it can take weeks for some systemic pesticides to come into contact with the larvae of insects, depending on what stage you’re attempting to treat.

Solutions

In some cases, you won’t completely rid your trees of pests, but treating them will help. And in other cases, you may elect to get rid of diseased or damaged trees. Talk to an arborist if you are unsure.

Integrated Pest Management

Chemical insecticides work very well but they shouldn’t always be the first line of defense. Integrated pest management is a system of controlling insects using cultural controls and biological agents, like lady bugs or certain bacteria, to attack the invaders before you reach for the poisons. The emphasis is on creating strong and healthy trees and landscapes that are better able to fight off attacks on their own. It’s not just better for the trees themselves, but better for the ecosystem in which we all live.

Outsource It

Most tree owners don’t have either the know-how or the time to properly treat trees suffering under an insect attack. Instead of letting your trees languish, this is the time to call in the pros. Think of it like going to the doctor when you think you have strep throat.

The Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council strongly recommends using an ISA certified arborist as improper treatment could harm the tree, wildlife, or even people. To find or verify the credentials of an arborist, visit www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist. Common problems with inexperienced applicators include bark splitting, poor uptake (and therefore limited effectiveness), and applications beyond the recommended rates. Remember, the chemical label is federal law and must be followed

Be Proactive

Better yet, regularly care for your trees to prevent stress and susceptibility to damaging pests. Things like lightly watering trees during drought, pruning at the correct time of year, and selecting the right tree for the right place will all help keep your tree healthy and reduce risk. You can also have an arborist inspect your trees to proactively fight insect and disease problems.

Protection is the first line of defense when it comes to fending off insects and pests from your trees. But if something seems wrong, or off — like sooty mold or brown spots in leaves — you’ll want to spring into action sooner, rather than later. Your trees will thank you.

Editor’s note: The Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council does not endorse any company or product. This article is published with permission and was provided courtesy of LawnStarter.

Tipping the Scale, Fifteen Years of Crapemyrtle Bark Scale Smushing

Tipping the Scale, Fifteen Years of Crapemyrtle Bark Scale Smushing

Dec 16, 2019 | News, Science

By Laura M. Miller, Tarrant County Extension Agent Commercial Horticulture

The Crapemyrtle, no matter how you spell it, is an MVP in the landscape.  Driving around Texas in the summertime, Crape myrtles are sure to catch your eye with their brightly colored pink, purple, red and crisp white flowers when many plants look tired and wilted.  Crape myrtles are widely planted all over North Texas and generally get the job done, earning their good reputation for being an excellent landscape choice for full sun in a wide variety of soils and situations. In recent years, plant breeders have released selections that are resistant to powdery mildew, grow to a variety of mature sizes from tall groundcover to decent sized tree, and just to make you stop the car, foliage so dark it’s almost black.

A mature crapemyrtle with characteristic smooth bark

No plant is completely without its problems.  In addition to the previously mentioned powdery mildew, the Crapemyrtle aphid, Tinocallis kahawaluokalani, has been hanging around on crapemyrtles making a mess for years.  Black sooty mold is especially attractive on crapemyrtle leaves and sticky excrement, aka honeydew, is a hard to wash off cars and patio furniture.  However, Crapemyrtle aphids don’t eat anything except crapemyrtle and all kinds of beneficial predator insects eat them.  If you want to have plenty of ladybeetles and green lacewings patrolling your landscape, having a few Crapemyrtle aphids is not a bad thing.  No insecticidal intervention was needed in most situations.

Things changed back in 2004, when Dr. Mike Merchant, Professor and Extension Urban Entomologist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Education Center in north Dallas, received an inquiry from a landscape maintenance company concerning an unusual pest insect on crape myrtle that was exceptionally difficult to control. Instead of finding black sooty mold growing on their leaves, he found black stems and trunks on crapemyrtles at a commercial property in Richardson.  Initially this insect was identified as an Eriococcid scale (Hemiptera: Eriococcidae), most likely the azalea bark scale, Eriococcus azaleae.

Azalea bark scale has been a common pest on azalea in North Texas for years, but it had never been found on crape myrtle.  The scale continued to be a problem in Dallas and Collin Counties with populations rising and falling over the next few years.  Neil Sperry still recalls 2007 as the worst year of the scale infestation in Collin County and especially on the Crape Myrtle Trails of McKinney.

In 2008 Dr. Merchant received some funding from the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association to evaluate different insecticide treatments for this scale. In addition to testing some newer neonicotinoid insecticides, they looked at applications of horticultural oil and of malathion. The latter two treatments provided no significant suppression of scale activity; however they did see significant control with acetamiprid, clothianidan, dinotefuran and imidacloprid, all commercially available insecticides. Two of these products, dinotefuran and imidacloprid, are available to consumers as Merit® or Bayer Advanced™ Garden Tree and Shrub Insect Control and Greenlight Tree and Shrub Insect Control with Safari. When applied as a drench treatment to the plant root zone, these products provide significant control of this scale.  Fast forward to 2019 and neonicotinoids are still effective, but there are a few issues with their use.

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In 2010, Dr. Merchant heard about a very similar species of scale that feeds on crape myrtle in China and Japan and submitted scale samples to Dr. Dug Miller, a systematic taxonomist for scale insects with the USDA in Washington, DC. He concluded that it was very likely that this scale insect is a new introduction of Eriococcus lagerostroemia, the scale previously known only from Asia. We like to call it Crapemyrtle Bark Scale, or CMBS for short.

The first out of state report came from Ardmore, OK in 2011, but it wasn’t until August of 2012 that it was found in Tarrant County, when I visited at a small commercial nursery in Arlington at the owners’ request.  Where there are two or three scales, there will always be another and in early September 2012, I received some e-mailed photographs of the scale from a homeowner in Hurst.  A few days after that I spotted the scale on some crape myrtles at the corner of Summit and Weatherford streets in downtown Fort Worth.  As I write this article in 2019, it has been confirmed in 12 states. 

Once a pest is identified, and the “what is this causing all this sooty mold?” question has been answered, most people want to know what they should do about it.  One possible answer is nothing.  Crape Murder by scale has yet to be reported in North Texas, and there are natural enemies of this pest present. Lady beetles seem to be the most significant natural enemy of the scale.  In fact, at one time the lady beetles feasting on scale became so abundant in the Crape Myrtle Trails of McKinney that researchers had a hard time finding infested trees for insecticide trials.

Research into the scale’s lifecycle, management and potential host range got a big boost in 2013 when Dr. Mengmeng Gu, Associate Professor and Extension Horticulturist, noticed the scale on crapemyrtle at the Beijing Botanical Garden.  She returned inspired to smush out scale and applied for a USDA grant.  Since 2017, scientists in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida have been diligently studying scale with a the goal of keeping it from becoming a serious pest problem on crapemyrtle and a host of other documented hosts.

There’s no doubt that this sap sucking insect is stressing the plants, but the cause of most plant owner stress may be plant appearance. Dr. Jim Robbins in Arkansas has documented smaller flower panicles on infested vs. uninfested trees.  The black sooty mold that grows on the honeydew the scales excrete is also unsightly.  As with many scale insects, dead bodies can remain on the plant for some time even after they have been killed with a systemic insecticide. They look a bit like lichens and are often misidentified.  One recommendation for heavily infested plants is to wash the trunk and reachable limbs with a soft brush and mild solution of dishwashing soap. This will remove many of the scales and egg masses and much of the black sooty mold.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t reduce scale populations significantly.

What does?  Over the course of ten years and eight trials, soil applied neonicotinoids have been consistent performers.  Bifenthrin provides quick suppression, and Pyriproxyfen has been an environmentally friendly option.  What doesn’t work?  Trunk and foliar sprayed neonicotinoids, horticultural oil except when combined with other treatments, malathion, cyantraniloprole, and azadirachtin.  Sevin and cypermethrin actually make scale worse by killing off those natural enemies.

Back to the smushing, what’s the best way to identify the scale?  Smush it.  If it’s insides are pink, you’ve just found CMBS, but you’ve probably noticed it just driving around Texas.

When Trees are a Hazard

When Trees are a Hazard

Jun 7, 2019 | News

We all enjoy the benefits of trees, and if you are a member or supporter of CTUFC then you probably appreciate the value of trees more than most. Unfortunately, trees sometimes develop issues that pose risks to people and property which need to be addressed. The reasons for addressing these issues include legal and financial implications, as well as social and aesthetic concerns. Tragedies sometimes occur involving trees and are made worse when there are children involved. A recent incident in Athens, TX serves as an unfortunate reminder. Trees can be deadly, which underscores the importance of timely inspection and proper tree maintenance. Of course, trees fall from storms but reducing tree failures under normal conditions can help give trees the good reputation they deserve. If you have a tree that is showing issues or signs of instability, please contact a certified arborist so that they can evaluate the tree and determine failure potential. Keep in mind that even the best trained arborist with the best equipment cannot fully predict the future of a tree. They will work with you to determine what level of risk you as the tree owner are willing to accept but keep other people and property in mind as well. Arborists with the Tree Risk Assessment Qualification, in particular, are trained in determining a risk rating using a standardized, industry-approved manner and communicating those ratings to tree owners. Hazardous trees are not worth someone’s life, so maintain, inspect, and mitigate risks so that trees can continue to be a positive feature in the landscape and provide shade, cooling, pollution reduction, stormwater runoff prevention, and other benefits.

What is a hazard?

The ISA defines a hazardous tree as one that has been assessed and found to be likely to fail and cause an unacceptable degree of injury, damage, or disruption (ISA Tree Risk Assessment Manual). This means that the tree has some likelihood of failure and likelihood of impacting a target, combined with the severity of actually hitting the target. A medium sized branch that is decaying and likely to fail may not be considered a hazard if it is located deep in the woods and would likely never hit anything but the ground if it fell. The same branch would probably cause concern if located over a playground at a daycare. However, not all situations are so easily assessed. After all, we live in a dynamic environment. The second consideration in the question of a target is the occupancy rate of the target: How often is a target present? While a large decaying limb hanging over a remote jogging path is hazardous, how often is there an actual target within the strike zone of the tree? That question also factors into the second part of the equation, not just can the tree hit something but what are the consequences of the impact? Public safety should always be an important factor, but for objects the consequence can vary. For example, the same decaying branch might have no consequence if it falls on a concrete bunker. Objects are easier to evaluate because they often remain in the same place, whereas determining if a person could be impacted by failure is much more difficult. Often arborists will look for objects that attract people to help determine if a person could be impacted. An example of this is evaluating the presence of sidewalks, picnic tables, playgrounds, pools, driveways, etc. to determine where a person could be in the event of tree failure. Tree owners should ask themselves: Could the tree hit something (person, pet, or property)? How often is the site occupied? What would happen if the target was hit? 

Severely damaged post oak trunk
Example of tree issues that aren't visible

What are some common tree conditions that increase risk?

  • The beginnings of this cedar elm splitting can be seen from the right angle, but many people would miss this sign of a potential issue. When caught at this stage, the tree can be saved with pruning and installation of bracing.

    Splitting trunks and branches: This condition is one of the easier issues to spot and often can be mitigated through some combination of pruning and bracing to prevent further splitting. Splitting also gives an idea of the direction failure would occur, limiting the potential targets around the tree.

  • Decay on the trunk or branch attachments: Decay is the ultimate result of disease, insects, or severe damage to the tree. It weakens the wood that supports the trunk and branches, increasing the risk of failure. This is harder to evaluate because it may not even be visible, and unlike splitting, decay doesn’t necessarily indicate the direction failure would occur.
  • Damage to roots: Trees can have roots damaged, severed, or removed from construction or other changes to the rooting space. Root damage is difficult to determine as roots are not visible and the direction of failure is not predictable. Some studies have found a distance of 3 times the trunk diameter to increase failure potential (the tree is more likely to topple in a storm), but there is no guarantee that a tree is safe beyond this distance. In some cases, roots have been cut all the way to the trunk and somehow the tree remains standing, but the chances of survival are diminished.
  • Leaning: Particularly if the tree is leaning towards a target, an off-center and off-balanced tree may pose a risk. Typically less than 15 degrees off vertical is not a cause for concern, but one should consider if this lean is increasing and if factors such as root damage also exist.
  • Dead branches: If there are large dead branches (greater than 2-inch diameter) high in the canopy, you probably need an arborist to prune the dead branches and take a look at why the branches died. There could be other issues or the tree may be dying.
  • Dead tree: Finally, any tree that is dead is a potential risk because it is no longer actively fighting decay. Even if the above-ground portion of the tree looks structurally sound, decay in the roots and root collar could cause the tree to fall. In some cases it may be possible to allow the tree to fall naturally, meanwhile providing wildlife habitat, but in most cities a dead tree is required to be removed. Especially in neighborhoods with houses all around, dead trees are usually considered a negative feature on a landscape depicting a lack of care.
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What are some common tree conditions that do not increase risk?

  • Bark damage without decay:
    Trunk damage not jeopardizing tree safety

    Strong wooded blackjack oak is very resistant to decay, so in this case of vehicle damage the trunk is still very strong.

    Although the bark is extremely important to tree health and preventing decay, it has no real impact on the strength of the tree. The xylem located beneath the bark provides all the structural support for the tree.

  • Small dead branches: Often defined as less than 1-2 inches in diameter, especially when low in the canopy, these branches might not cause harm.

What are other issues to look out for?

  • Power lines: Although losing power is not ideal, the biggest concern is that a downed power line is a safety hazard itself. Treat power lines as potential target should the tree fail. Never prune a tree or branch that may be contacting a power line. If lines are contacting a tree or the ground, stay away and call your electric provider.
  • Limbs over streets or blocking street signs: This is not a “hazard tree” in the usual sense, but low limbs near roadways could cause a dangerous situation.
  • Limbs touching roofs: Limbs in contact with a roof (asphalt shingle roofs in particular) are not a safety hazard, but homeowners should watch for this issue. Prune the limbs 3-4 feet over the roof to prevent branches from causing a leaky roof.

What are my responsibilities?

Tree owners should maintain their trees to keep them safe and keep providing all of the benefits we love from our trees. If you aren’t sure about the condition of your tree, contact an arborist for help. As mentioned, cities usually do not allow potentially hazardous, or dead, trees to be retained on private property. Often, code violation notice stipulates a time limit to correct the situation, which makes finding mitigation options within the time constraint difficult. Checking trees themselves and by being aware of potential issues, tree owners can handle the situation in a timely manner without pressure to meet a deadline. In the case of tree removal, more time to shop around could mean a better price and a safer contractor (by checking references and safety records of the company).

Trees you own are not the only ones you should be concerned about, individuals should look at trees around their property, on their streets, in their parks, and elsewhere to help keep their neighborhoods and cities safe. Contact the tree owner or city if you see something that may be unsafe. Although people don’t want to lose their trees or be told that they may have a high risk tree, the alternative could be much worse.

Resources

Managing Hazards and Risks – ISA

Pruning and Power Lines – Oncor

Tree Risk Assessment Top 10 – Nelda Matheny

Citizen Forester Resources – Risk Assessment

Fort Worth Forestry Hazard Abatement

Arlington Forestry FAQs

Grand Prairie Road Clearance Requirements

Splitting cedar elm 1

Damage on a cedar elm from a previously split trunk. Cedar elm rarely experiences heavy decay from this type of damage, but the loss of wood structure increases failure potential.

Splitting cedar elm 2

The split on this cedar elm is quite severe, but in some cases may be remedied with pruning to remove one trunk or bracing the two stems.

Splitting cedar elm 3

In this case the tree was removed due its location and the severity of the splitting trunk. The main stem could not be left by itself because it was not strong enough without the codominant stems it previously had on both sides. The previously split off stem left a large wound that weakened the main trunk, which indicated bracing may not be able to hold the tree together.

2019 North Texas Conference

2019 North Texas Conference

Mar 1, 2019 | News

This year’s North Central Texas Urban Forestry Conference: “Growing On and Branching Out” had topics on tree work, such as moving trees and growing a sustainable urban forest, as well as pressing insect and disease issues that are growing in Texas. For the second year, the Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council branched out and partnered with the North East Texas Nursery Growers Association to promote the trade show and urban forestry professionals. We also grew into a larger space that, while not perfect, was an improvement for attendees and sponsors.

The morning sessions focused on real world examples from forestry professionals. The first session, by Andrew Wimmel of Sam Hill Tree Care, delved into work day planning and the importance of communication prior to beginning a day of work. Our second presenter, David Marks of Environmental Design, discussed the world of moving large trees from up mountains to the World Trade Center Memorial. The final morning presenter, Dean Minchillo, discussed the importance of water in the future of Dallas-Fort Worth and our profession. Sustainability is a key aspect of selecting tree species and working with homeowners, and water conservation needs to be addressed whenever possible.

Our afternoon could be viewed as somewhat depressing, albeit critically important, as it concerned growing pest and disease issues that are currently on the rise. Our presenters from Texas A&M Agrilife Extension and Texas A&M Forest Service provided information that grabbed the attention of everyone and hopefully made clear the reality of what we as professionals need to address. The greatest threat to the urban forest is Emerald Ash Borer, which will certainly impact trees in North Texas and is already found in Tarrant County. Dr. Mike Merchant and Allen Smith discussed Emerald Ash Borer and the treatment options, concerns about movement of the pest and ash wood, discovery of the current infestation near Eagle Mountain Lake, and strategies for dealing with this pest. Our other afternoon presenter, Dr. David Appel, provided new information on Oak Wilt in Texas and likewise discussed strategies for managing this disease as well as the biology behind it’s spread. These presentations provided great value to attendees, with over 80% of attendees noting the information on EAB would provide the greatest benefit to their practices.

Resources

Click here to see the full list of 2019 sponsors.

Click here for information on the Trees Count app from TFS.

-Trees Count is being used in Grand Prairie to survey street trees.

Click here for information on Grand Prairie’s Grand Tree University.

Click here to view the Arlington, TX downtown trees map.

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Click here to view the Arlington, TX downtown interactive tree tour.

Click here to sign up for our email newsletters so you receive a reminder about next year’s conference! 

We want to thank all of our sponsors not only for supporting the conference, but also for giving their attention to the presentations. Our 2019 sponsors were Environmental Design & Davey, Makita Tools, Southwest Wholesale Nursery, Arbor Masters, Ultimate Tool & Safety, Minick Materials, BWI, Arborjet, ISA Texas, Davey, and Target Specialty Products.

Awards were presented from both CTUFC and TBUFC at each of the breaks. The City of Arlington was presented with the Bronze Leaf award for their efforts in creating an online map of all city trees in downtown Arlington, TX and an interactive slide show map that highlights certain trees. The project is intended to raise urban forestry awareness and help with learning tree about the different tree species in Arlington’s downtown. Susan Henson with the City of Grand Prairie was presented with an award from TBUFC for her work in creating an ash street tree survey using volunteers to help prepare the city for EAB and other pest issues.

There were over 220 attendees this year and thankfully we did not have to turn anyone away at the door thanks to our larger space. Thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing you next year! If you would like to participate in the planning of the 2020 conference, please contact Laura Miller.

Mistletoe: The Thief of Trees

Mistletoe: The Thief of Trees

Dec 5, 2018 | News, Science

Ho, Ho, The Mistletoe–Beloved symbol of Christmas, floral emblem of Oklahoma, or ugly parasite?

It’s all of the above, and as deciduous trees shed their leaves in the fall, leafy mistletoe will begin to stand out like a sore thumb, such as on the cedar elms (Ulmus crassifolia) shown above.

Mistletoe Plant

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant with leaves, stems, and berries. Courtesy of Texas A&M Forest Service.

Mistletoe, a common name used to describe several species of Phoradendron, is widely distributed and lives on a variety of woody hosts.  The scientific name comes from the Greek to Latin ‘phor’ which means to carry or carry off (like a thief) and ‘dendron’ which refers to trees.  Mistletoe extracts water and nutrients from the tree.

Dr. Raul Cabrera, former Associate Professor and Project Leader in Woody Ornamental Horticulture at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas and now Extension Specialist at the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Bridgetown, New Jersery, told this story of how he decided to start studying the thief of trees.  During his usual lunch break at the Jack In The Box next to the center, he noticed that the mistletoe in the trees was much greener than the leaves of the trees themselves.  Ignoring his Jack’s Spicy Chicken, he began to wonder if the mistletoe was somehow using proportionally more water and nutrients than the tree.  Could controlling mistletoe be a water conservation tool?

Dr. Cabrera went back to the Urban Solutions Center, grabbed a ladder, and started measuring the stomatal conductance, a measure of water loss per unit of leaf area of tree leaves and mistletoe leaves.  While he hasn’t been able to quantify the actual water and nutrient use in leafy mistletoe yet, he has found that the stomatal conductance of mistletoe is higher than in the host tree leaves, and actually it losses water from both sides of its leaves (tree leaves loose water only or mostly from the lower side). This suggests that on a leaf area basis the mistletoe is using more water than its tree host.  Dr. Cabrera’s research continues.  He’s currently growing mistletoe on containerized plants so he won’t have to spend so much time up on ladders.

While Dr. Cabrera is trying to quantify how much water mistletoe is stealing, weed scientist Dr. Mengmeng Gu of Mississippi State University, now Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Specialist in College Station, was just trying to get rid of it.  Unfortunately, the title of her publication in the Southern Nursery Association Research Conference proceeding pretty much says it all “Bark-penetrating Surfactant and Ethephon Did Not Control Leafy Mistletoe in Spring.”

The plant growth regulator Ethephon is the only labeled chemical control for mistletoe. Ethephon ([2-chloroethyl] phosphonic acid) is absorbed by plant tissues and releases ethylene which causes leaf abscission.  It must be applied in the dormant season, and doesn’t translocate so application in large trees can be challenging.  Dr. Gu applied Ethephon on March 21 and April 3 and 4. While her results were inconsistent, she does plan to try the product again.  She also plans to avoid one unintended side effect—car paint damage.

Dr. Gu’s inconsistent results were consistent with an experiment conducted in February 1988 by Randy Peterson of the Denton Parks and Recreation Department in cooperation with John Cooper, recently retired Denton County Extension Agent. They tested three rates of Ethephon, with and without surfactant on Cedar Elm trees.  Mistletoe leaf abscission increased with increasing rates, but only reached 50%. They also found that spraying twice at a 15 minute interval increased abscission.

Other studies such as “New Methods for Control of Leafy Mistletoe (Phoradendron spp.) on Landscape Trees” (John M. Lichter, Michael S. Reid and Alison M. Berry, Journal of Arboriculture 17(5): May 1991 pp. 127-130) tried treating cut mistletoe stubs with Ethephon and glyphosate (i.e. Round-upTM) and compared those treatments to simply pruning out the mistletoe.  Glyphosate results were extremely variable, but treatment of cut stubs with 10% Ethephon did reduce percent regrowth over pruning alone.

If Ethephon is not the solution, what’s the best way to get rid of mistletoe?  Like many successful weeds, mistletoe is efficiently spread by birds. Many species of birds eat its lovely white berries and then excrete the seeds in unsuspecting trees.  The sticky seeds germinate and grow root like structures called haustoria which extend up and down the tree branch in the tree’s vascular system.  Pruning the mistletoe to a stub is like mowing to control weeds.  Pruning will reduce the numbers of seeds spread, and it slows down the growth of the mistletoe.  It’s certainly better than doing nothing, but unless it’s done repeatedly over time, the mistletoe will regrow.

Cedar elm is one of the most common North Texas trees and is unfortunately susceptible to the parasite. Treating mistletoe can be beneficial to the tree; however, treatment is primarily for aesthetics as trees are rarely killed by mistletoe.

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Pruning out the infected limb to at least a foot below the mistletoe attachment site should remove the haustoria and prevent regrowth.  However, this is an expensive solution and not always appropriate. Extensive pruning could even exacerbate the situation as stressed trees are more susceptible to mistletoe establishment.

The other commonly used control method is to cut the mistletoe back to a stub and prevent it’s regrowth by excluding light. This is traditionally done by wrapping the area with black plastic, aluminum foil or tar paper.  The wrap needs to remain on the tree for a few years.  As one might imagine, wrapping tree branches in black plastic is also time consuming and not especially attractive.  It’s also likely to create a microclimate which could cause heat damage to the bark and often attracts ants and other insects. Lichter, Reid and Berry (1991) substituted black pruning paint for the plastic wrap treatment with good results.  The pruning paint is much more quickly applied and not quite as ugly.

How about host resistance?  There’s both good and bad news here.  Crape myrtle, Chinese pistache, Bradford pear, gingko, sweet gum and sycamore are never infested with mistletoe, meaning they are not suitable hosts.  Unfortunately, many of our great native trees are quite susceptible including the oaks, the elms, bois d’arc and mesquite. Other popular street trees afflicted by leafy mistletoe infections include walnut, poplar, beech and cherries.

In summary, if you want to get rid of mistletoe you can try spraying, pruning, really pruning, pruning and wrapping, pruning and painting, or giving up and planting a gingko, but the mistletoe battle is not easily won.  It is however a worthy battle, especially when you consider that water conservation may soon be a quantifiable benefit. And while we may not always have snow for Christmas, there’s always going to be plenty of mistletoe.