If your house is covered with small pale moths near your porchlights at this time of year, then you have a wintermoth population.

The wintermoth, which so many of you know by the little green inchworm caterpillars that eat your trees in the springtime, is now in its adult form. They ended their pupation about 2 weeks ago, and are now mating. Pupation occurs from early June, when the larval caterpillars drop from the trees and bury themselves in the soil, until this time of year. The moth itself is not harmful to your landscape, but their conspicuous presence at night is unmistakeable.

This is a time of year where a "do-it-yourself" control can have some impact; the female moth is flightless, and must walk up the tree trunk to lay her eggs. You can trap her and prevent her brood from becoming the springtime nuisance by applying an effective bug barrier on your susceptible trees. This is accomplished by creating a solid, impenetrable barrier encircling the tree trunk- there are a few commercially available products at your local garden center or hardware store. To make the barrier most effective, apply a sticky substance to the barrier so the moth cannot move. One commonly available product is called tanglefoot. I have also seen some people use duct tape effectively as well. You will need to check your sticky barrier regularly too- if populations are high enough, you may need to reapply your sticker as the moths accumulate.

This will not be the answer to all your problems if you have had a significant wintermoth population in the past, but may be able to reduce populations a little bit. Foliar sprays still offer the best value and control for most landscape situations, but also emerging are microinjections. While this type of treatment may cost a bit more, it offers you the opportunity to address the problem in the fall, providing a better level of control in the spring. This is a great option for clients that are sensitive to chemicals, or have sensitive landscape areas such as vegetable gardens or koi ponds.

One last thing to remember, if you are looking for do-it-yourself options, be sure to select a product labelled for control of caterpillars, or lepidoptera. I have seen many people buy the wrong products at a garden center- always read the label! Products like horticultural oil will not control caterpillars once they have hatched. If you need to consult an arborist, we at Mayer Tree are always available to assist you.

Jeff

This is a great time of year to determine the health of a tree.

Trees spend the spring pushing out new leaves, then twig elongation with more new foliage occurs. The tree is using a lot of it's stored energy to do these things, and most trees can appear to be healthy and productive. As summer moves along toward fall, trees that are stressed or weakened may now begin to show signs of a problem.

If there is a question of a nutrient deficiency, it can be seen at this time. Certain missing nutrients can be observed by looking at particular discoloration patterns in the leaf. This is the time of year to perform a foliar nutrient analysis, if needed, by sending leaf samples to a diagnostic laboratory.

If your tree is looking like fall is already here, there may be a different problem. Trees that are stressed can start dropping their leaves in August, which is too early for "normal" fall abscission. A tree that is losing it's leaves now is likely stressed- it has suffered from drought injury, disease injury, or some other environmental problem. These specimens should now be evaluated by a competent arborist to see if a cause can be determined, and get the tree on a program to lead it on the path to recovery, if possible. Possible solutions could include bio-stimulant treatments, fertilization, microinjections, as well as some cultural relief such as increased watering, mulching (or removal of excess mulch), pruning, or many other options. Where as there are several possible problems, some of which may compound other symptoms, there may be several solution recommendations.

In the North Shore, many trees I have seen dropping leaves were drought stressed from last summer. Some have had foliar diseases that have weakened the leaves due to the very wet and cool spring we had this year, which was very conducive to disease infections. A hurricane/ tropical storm can also cause a lot of desiccation of the leaf, which could also lead to leaf loss. Crabapples, birches, and sugar maples are three species I tend to see dropping leaves early every year due to these types of problems.

If you feel that your trees are in fall while you are still in summer, it might be a good time to contact your certified arborist for a routine evaluation. Seeing trees now that are stressed can lead to the implementation of a program to put them on the road to recovery.

Jeff

Hurricane Irene, also known as tropical storm Irene in these parts, has come and gone. She left behind a sunny day and a bit of tree damage in her wake.

Damage to trees in the north shore was mild to moderate, depending on your location. From my observations, most of the trees and limbs that came down from the high winds were trees and limbs that I would have expected to come down. Some trees we can expect to fail in mild weather conditions, such as white pine, willow, red maple, or black locust, due to their softer wood or inherently poor structure. Other tree failures were caused by structural defects within the tree, such as a heavy lean, included bark, internal decay, or dead limbs.

In the wake of the storm, we have received numerous calls from homeowners that did not suffer any significant tree damage, in addition to those that did. These folks, realizing that they may have some potential tree problems, want us to come out to inspect their trees, and make any necessary recommendations, and deal with any problematic trees before the next big storm. Sometimes it is necessary to remove a healthy looking tree- we must remember that a tree's health is not a good reflection of it's structural integrity. A healthy tree can live with severe decay or other predisposed problems, which is why it is important to have a certified arborist periodically inspect your trees. This is important not only to improve the health of your trees, but to maintain the safety of your home and family.

Please contact Mayer Tree Service if you would like to learn more about hazardous trees, or to have a certified arborist meet with you to inspect your landscape for any potential problems.

Jeff

Hurricane Irene is heading to New England this weekend, and early reports are saying we could have winds up to and over 100 mph and upwards of 10 inches of rain, depending on where you live. So what should you do?

It is likely too late now to take any preventative steps toward protecting your trees from damaging winds, but we should be thinking about the future. Once we get past this storm, have a certified arborist from Mayer Tree Service stop by to inspect your trees- we are trained to spot defects and hazards that may not be apparent to the average homeowner. Knowing where potential problems are in your landscape, and addressing them in a timely fashion, could save you money, time, and a lot of frustration should a storm really hit the area hard.

In regards to Irene, we are expecting a high volume of calls during and after the storm. The phones have already been busy with municipalities looking to have us on alert. If you have an emergency, such as a tree went through your house or is posing an immediate threat to human life, we will prioritize those calls. If a tree has fallen in your backyard and is is not in the way of anything, then those calls will be answered and dealt with after the higher priority emergencies are resolved. We want to be sure that we can satisfy all of our valued clients, so we will address highest needs as they arise.

We apprecite your business, and hope that this storm does not hit us as hard as some have forcasted, but should you need us, don't hesitate to call!