City urging residents to band trees to prevent cankerworm
The City of Regina is in the process of banding 450 city-owned trees and says now is the time for residents to do the same, as female cankerworms will soon be making their way to tree tops to lay their eggs.
Tree banding now is meant to prevent an outbreak of cankerworms in the spring.
According to Russell Eirich, manager of forestry, pest control and horticulture, there are two types — fall and spring cankerworms. He said tree bands will catch both types.
“Cankerworms are a defoliating insect. So they do a lot of damage in just eating the leaves of the tree and taking the energy reserves out of the tree,” said Eirich.
All you need to band your own tree is a six-inch-wide piece of insulation, a plastic garbage bag, duct tape and a sticking agent like axle grease, Tanglefoot or Stick-em.
Eirich said the cost should only come to about $5.
Wrap the insulation around the tree, cover it with a plastic garbage bag, secure the garbage bag to the tree with duct tape along the top and bottom and finally, cover the garbage bag with the sticky substance of your choice. A staple gun can be a useful tool to hold the insulation in place.
Eirich recommends primarily banding elm, maple and fruit trees.
With tree banding hitting full speed, other pest control programs are wrapping up as summer comes to an end.
“Mosquitoes have been a nonissue,” said Eirich.
“We just can’t get a better year than we’ve had for mosquitoes.”
As of last week, the city was averaging 12 mosquitoes per trap, which is 15 per cent of the historical average of 73 mosquitoes per trap.
The city has used 4,000 kilograms of mosquito product this summer over an area equivalent to 1,000 CFL-sized football fields.
Eirich said most years they use 20,000 kilograms of mosquito product over an area equivalent to 2,500 football fields.
A couple of mosquito crews will continue until the end of next week.
There is one week of the gopher control program left, a couple more athletic fields still need to be sprayed for dandelions and the Dutch elm disease program has already wound up, according to Eirich.
The city lost 10 trees to the disease over the summer, compared to the historical average of fiveand-a-half trees per year.
Residents may be noticing a high number of maple bugs — otherwise known as box elder bugs — in areas with a high number of maple trees.
As fall temperatures approach, the bugs like to group together and try to find cracks and crevices in houses for warmth.
While the city does not have a maple bug control program, Eirich recommends sealing up any cracks on the outside of your home to prevent the bugs from getting inside.
But he advised against attempting to squish them.
“They are terribly foul smelling to us and so squishing them will bring that scent out,” Eirich continued. “You won’t appreciate it as a homeowner and it will also attract more maple bugs.”
The flat, black and orange, beetle-like bugs can be expected to hang around until freezing temperatures arrive.