Forest tent caterpillars, cankerworms, and leafrollers are once again popping up across the Border City.
The City is saying that will not do a mass control for the pests because “they typically do not impact the long-term health of the trees.”
The City says they will concentrate on key ornamental areas within the City to minimize the pests and defoliation for this season.
To help control cankerworms people can use tree banding but it is not effective against leafrollers and forest tent caterpillars. It’s a little too late to start that for this season, but the City says “the best time to place bands on trees is from September to May to help prevent the wingless adult female cankerworm moths from climbing host trees to lay their eggs.”
They remind residents that, “it is important to remove the bands at the beginning of June because the bands can collect moisture and cause the trunk to rot.”
The city adds that with all of the pests, “trees may experience significant defoliation but, in most cases the trees will recover and produce new foliage.”