Are insects destroying your trees

When the weather heats up, the insects come out to feed on trees that have weakened after a long and stressful winter of not much sun. Insects, in some cases, have the potential to rot and destroy trees. Across North America, some common suspects seem to crop up again and again. Insects with the potential to damage trees choose only one to a handful of species to attack. Specific insects and infestations take place over a limited area, at a maximum of several thousand acres. Generally, the damage done by infestations ceases within a few years. This is why its important to find a tree service company near you to do regular tree trimming maintenance and evaluation of your trees.

The United States has approximately 750 million acres of forest land. It brings us life, functions as an invaluable source of clean drinking water. The timber is also used across the nation to build homes, businesses, and recreational structures. Healthy sustainable, forest land is essential for healthy modern societies. In 2007 in the United States, approximately 6.8 million acres of tree fields were damaged by insects and disease. The figure of 6.8 million is only the number of trees reported for issues, so the actual figures could be significantly higher. The average homeowner does not understand the effects infestation and how detrimental in can’t be to their property. Hiring an arborist is the best course of action in this case. They are trained tree service professionals who can spot these things early an either do trimming and treatment, or suggest that tree removal is necessary. Almost 61 percent of the tree deaths that took place were found to be caused by one type of pest alone.

Aphids

Aphids are extremely common; in general, they are not particularly damaging. However, large colonies can cause the leaves to change and stunt shoots. Aphids tend to create large amounts of a gummy exudate called Honeydew. Unfortunately, a variety of Aphid species seem to inject trees with a toxin that negatively influences the growth of the tree.

Douglas-Fir Bark Beetle (Dendroctonus Pseudosugae)

The Douglas-Fir species of Black Beetle is found predominantly across the western regions of North America. They seem to gravitate to infested fallen Larch Trees. They come out mostly during droughts and are often found in already rotting trees. They tend to differ in size, generally, somewhere is between 4 to 7mm. The larvae tend to be small and white in color, about the size of a grain of rice. They often cause damage to Conifer Trees. The most obvious sign of an infestation by just looking at a tree in the west will be patches of dark orange to reddish-brown dust on the bark around the base of the tree.

Fall Webworm (Hyhantria Cunea)

Fall Webworms can be found across over 100 different species across America. Hyhantria Cunea’s are a moth part of the Erebidae family. The main sign of an infestation is found when they are in their larval stage. The adult moth lays eggs on the underside of leaves, they take about one week to hatch. A key sign of an infestation is webbed nests that sit around the limbs of trees.

Forest Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma Disstria)

Found in both Canada and the US, these caterpillars are renowned for consuming foliage of most hardwood species. They tend to gravitate towards Aspen, Sugar Maple, and Oak Trees. Every 6 to 16 years, they are known for breaking out throughout the northern regions, while in the southern areas, they are known for their pervasiveness every year.They are known to be more of an annoyance than a threat; they don’t pose serious risks to the health of trees.

Hemlock Wooly Adelgid

Although native to East Asia, they are also found across the eastern regions of North America. They don’t pose a threat to commercial timbers. However, Christmas Tree growers can face Wooly Adelgid attacks. The insect will suck the sap out of trees, wherever the needles attach themselves. Their saliva is believed to be toxic, often causing substantial damage.

Asian Long-Horned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis)

Also known as the Starry Sky Beetle, this species is native to Eastern China and Korea. However, the species, by accident, was introduced to the USA after being discovered in 1996. Since then, it has made its way to countries in Europe, including France, Austria, Germany, Italy, and the UK. They are reasonably large insects with bodies ranging between 1.5 to 4cm in length, with large antenna that is often 3-4cm in size. They are of a shiny black color with white spots across their wings and antennae. Evidence of these beetles’ damage can be noticed by rotting along with yellowing leaves when there have been no signs of drought. They tend to favor and infest Maple, Willow, Poplar, and Elm Trees. Maple Trees seem to be the most attacked throughout North America by the Asian long-horned beetle. Tree service companies and their arborists hate seeing this pest. They are the most invasive, hard to spot, and will destroy your tree line. An infestation of this type almost always ends in tree removal. The property owners doing tree trimming and pruning may spot this and call for tree removal service.

Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus Ponderosae)

As the name suggests, Mountain Pine Bettles thrive around Pine Trees, predominantly Ponderosa’s, Sugar, White, and Lodgepole Pines. They can pose a significant threat, with known outbreaks killing many thousands of trees. They tend to gravitate towards trees that are very large in diameter.

Pales Weevil (Hylbius Pales)

Hylbius Pales infestations should be taken very seriously as the damage they cause can often be challenging to manage. They are a species of Pine Weevil of the beetle family Curculionidae. They mostly affect Pine Trees across the North-Eastern parts of the United States.

Shade Tree Borers

Shade Tree Borers are insects that show up underneath the bark of trees. Moths and beetles are the most common of borers. These sorts of insects tend to attack predominantly old dying trees, fallen logs, and trees that are have been weakened by stress. Borers often and incorrectly take the blame for tree damage when they are mostly going for already dying/dead trees with pre-existing conditions and injuries. This insect can easily infest after a storm. Storm cleanups and emergency tree service after storms is extremely important to keep these from infesting not only your dead uprooted trees and branches but your healthy trees as well. Call your tree service for tree removal and storm cleanup after that storm and let your mind be at ease.

Emerald Ash Borer (Argrilus Planipennis)

Emerald Ash Borers are a species of beetles that kill millions of trees yearly. They are found mostly across the eastern parts of the United States, reaching out as westerly as Nevada, Colorado, and Texas. The adult borers are very small in size and are hard to notice. When a tree suffers from these kinds of infestations, they are attacked during their mature/adulthood phases. Many trees are considered too small for them to go after.

Western Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus Brevicomis)

Western Pine Beetles often aggressively attack and kill Coulter and Ponderosa pine trees irrespective of age and tree health. Infestations of this sort can have profound effects on the health of forests. In some cases, their tree-killing can even limit timber supplier’s inventories, negatively influencing tree stocking industries. The trees they weaken also pose a risk in the presence of forest fires.

Spruce Budworm (Choristoneura Fumiferana)

The Spruce Budworm is known to be one of the most destructive insects to Fir and Northern Spruce forests across the eastern parts of the United States and Canada. Budworm larvae tend to hatch in the thousands and can completely halt and destroy a tree before it gets the chance to grow properly. The outbreaks seem to be periodic and a part of the natural cycle of events that take place in accordance with the growth of Balsam Fir. Tree removal is almost guaranteed if this infestation is found. Although tree service companies can slow the infestation with treatment this insect is very resilient and even when you remove infested tree branches through tree trimming they manage to re-infest and destroy the rest of the tree.

Pyralid Borers (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

From the moth family Pyralid Borers, they are mostly found across Colorado. There are two specific species that attack pines in Colorado: the Pinyon Pitch Mass Borer as well as the Zimerman Pine Moth. They tend to develop throughout the trunks or bigger branches of their host trees. They cause large wounds underneath the barks of trees. Eventually, a sort of release oozes from the wounds. Their larvae are gray or pinkish. They have five pairs of legs extending from their abdomen. Each leg is tipped with little hooks. Their wingspans range from about 10mm to 40mm across fully-grown specimens. Funnily enough, they are even pests of beehives. They tend to breed outdoors in high numbers; birds and reptiles often eat them. This is particularly concerning to homeowners with kids and pets. Having and insect infestation that is known to attract snakes is not ideal. Although in most cases unprovoked they are harmless they can bite if feel threatened. Once hearing this most elect for tree removal when this infestation is found.

Soft and Hard Scale Insects

Damage from soft and hard scale insects infestations can be spotted through symptoms such as yellowing, restricted growth, branch dieback, premature leaf drop, and plant death. Scale insects tend to include a large variety of insects from the subfamily called Sternorrhyncha. They frequently occur around woody ornamentals. They consume mostly leaves, twigs, branches, and fruits during an infestation and damage them by feeding on phloem. They cause damage with their piercing mouthparts.

Nantucket Pine Tip Moth (Rhyacionia Frustrana)

Nantucket Pine Tip Moths are a significant pest problem across the United States. They show up all over the place, from Massachusetts to Florida and from the West to Texas. It is suspected that they originated in San Diego County but spread north and east throughout California found across Orange and Kern counties. They have a wingspan of about 11mm in length. They are light brown or orange in color. The damage they cause can be noticed around pines’ tips/needles where premature browning has taken place. Local tree service companies will tell you they provided tree removal and tree trimming for several client’s property where this infestation is found. Its unfortunate that these devastate the sprawling pines across the northeast.

Fall webworm (Hyphantria Cunea)

The Fall Webworm is one of the most indiscriminating pests feeding on a range of different trees ranging from American Beech, to Birch, Black Cherry, Oak, Red, and Sugar Maple. They gravitate predominantly towards hardwood trees. Adults have a wingspan of about 30mm, they tend to be white in color, and some have black markings on their wings and are furry around their heads. Fortunately, even though they are pests and very easily identifiable to arboriculturist or commercial tree services, they don’t harm otherwise healthy trees.

Douglas Fir Tussock Moths gravitate towards Douglas-Firs. They seem to attack blue spruce as well as other firs across urban regions. As the Tussock Moths like to stay in the same place, trees seem to get attacked yearly in a substantial way. They can be seen around springtime; around the time the larvae start feeding on fresh needles.

It is difficult to measure the amount of damage done by insects as it takes a close inspection by a trained arborist to understand the scope of the damage on each tree. Having the knowledge to suggest tree trimming and treatment instead of tree removal is not something most property owners possess. Contacting a tree service company near you to send out an arborist to inspect and recommend an action plan can help. If you have noticed any strange infestation clusters or unusual patterns in your area, feel free to contact us so that we can send a trained tree service professional to analyze the situation.