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.

North Texas Cities Prepare for EAB

North Texas Cities Prepare for EAB

Apr 13, 2020 | News

By Jeremy Priest

The recent North Central Texas UFC included a panel of municipalities and experts regarding the preparation for EAB. Although most of the metroplex will still not face EAB for a number of years, unless a large jump is made by the pest, there is a need to begin preparations when it comes to municipalities. North Texas is blessed with low ash populations from the start, but even a 2% population could add up when considering an entire city.

Emerald ash borer is an invasive pest which devastates ash trees.

The speakers presented the need for an inventory or good sample at a minimum, with Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, and Dallas among those undertaking efforts to understand their ash trees. Without this information there is almost no way to predict the impact and potential costs. The experts made it clear that prolonging the life of ash trees is a valuable undertaking, as opposed to simply removing all ash trees at once. For example, the City of Arlington recently completed a study of park trees and determined as many as 15,700 ash trees exist in Arlington parks. The total number of ash is considerable and it will not possible to treat all trees, but only about 500 or so are greater than 8 inches diameter. Also, the study stratified by natural and open areas which indicates that only 200-250 ash trees are located near park visitors, which would be the primary targets for removal or treatment over the next 15 years. Although removal costs are not as concerning with a small ash population, simply removing all ash trees at once is not in the best interest of the urban forest, citizens expectations, or the municipal budget. This is especially important now given expectations of budget decreases across the country for as much as the next three years. Removing a few trees early on can help spread the cost and reduce the feeding ability of the EAB population. Ideally only trees in poor or fair condition should be removed (as the City of Plano has begun doing) and planning should be done so that any trees that are removed are replaced within a year or so. Don’t neglect tree planting and remember to increase diversity, as many cities have found replanting difficult as EAB removals increase.

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Ash tree receiving trunk injection of emamectin benzoate for prevention of EAB. Preventative treatment is not yet necessary, but can be done out of an abundance of caution.

As EAB begins to take effect in a community some trees will need to be removed, especially as early removal increases safety. The instability of ash once EAB has been in it for a year increases the risk of failure during the removal process. Most experts and studies have suggested treating at least some of the ash trees to prevent safety hazards, allow continued benefit of these ash trees, prolong the life of surrounding untreated ash trees, and importantly enough, fit removal and replacement within budgetary constraints. Foresters can conduct treatment injections themselves to reduce cost, but the chemicals themselves are not inexpensive. Emamectin benzoate products are generally considered the best choice for tree health and environmental impacts but the chemical alone will generally cost $3-5/inch of trunk diameter, depending on the desired rate. Still, there is little reason that cities could not spare a few hundred dollars to protect at least a handful of their best ash trees, since treatment is far less expensive than removal. Heavy concentration of ash tree removals, even if only a dozen trees fall under city control, may impact contractors removing the trees and the ultimate destination of that debris. Infested wood needs to be ground down or heat treated to prevent spread, or otherwise properly disposed of. Since many tree owners will be needing ash trees removed at the same time, there could be a financial impact (e.g. contractor delays, high prices) for tree removals that homeowners feel more than others. The loss of a tree is one thing, but the impact of losing that tree canopy forever is much worse. We need to encourage homeowners to plant a replacement tree in every way possible, including setting that example on city properties through replanting. As foresters we should consider the whole urban forest for our community, even if the trees are not under our direct control. If municipalities properly manage EAB it will not only provide an example for citizens, it could help protect and prolong their ash trees.

Ash Tree Injection Demo in Fort Worth

Ash Tree Injection Demo in Fort Worth

May 17, 2019 | Events

Regional champion Texas ash to be treated

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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.