Month: January 2024
Managing Tree Pests
Homeownership requires taking an active approach to keeping trees and shrubs healthy, both to increase property values and add aesthetic qualities. A properly cared-for landscape enhances both property values and aesthetic qualities, adding value and providing aesthetic pleasures.
At times, seasonal invaders like stink bugs, boxelder bugs and silverfish enter homes to feed on food sources or find refuge from extreme heat or cold conditions. Tree care experts at Kansas City Tree Services mentioned that early intervention is essential in order to thwart such invasions from getting worse.
Chewing Insects
Chewing insects have strong mandibles to pierce and chew solid foods, while those with piercing-sucking mouthparts use delicate stylets that pierce plant tissues to extract nourishing fluids for sustenance.
Damage occurs from either the removal of these fluids, or from their exposure through insect saliva to the plant, leading to symptoms like spotting, curling, wilting and ultimately tissue death.
grasshoppers, caterpillars and cutworms are examples of sucking-chewing insects that feed on leaf edges, leading to damaged foliage. Eastern lubber grasshoppers feed along the edges of lilac and dogwood leaves while tuliptree and oak leaf miner caterpillars tunnel into leaves to consume their inner bark.
Another invasive pest to watch out for is the Emerald Ash Borer, which first made its debut from Japan and decimated ash trees east of Missouri …
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