City prepping for next round of gypsy moth fight

Two neighbourhoods in Ancaster and Greensville will be sprayed with a biological pesticide this spring, for the second year in a row, to control an outbreak of gypsy moth caterpillars that threatens to defoliate trees.

Sam Scarlett, city manager of forestry and horticulture, said the program will cover 580 hectares of land — down from 2,151 hectares sprayed with Btk insecticide in the west end last year.

Council set aside $2.5 million for the two-year program.

“This year was to clean up areas which still have high infestation,” he said. “It’s knocking the peak off that cycle, and it’s not an eradication program; it’s very much a control program.”

Neighbourhoods getting a repeat spraying, because a November count found they still exceeded a city threshold of 2,500 egg masses per hectare, are the Ancaster area bordered by Sulphur Springs and Jerseyville roads, and Greensville along the escarpment.

New areas include the west side of Sulphur Springs Road in the Dundas Valley, Carlisle and portions of Waterdown by Main Street South and Mountain Brow Road east of Highway 5.

Sticky bands will also be placed around the trunks of 23 mature oak trees in Westdale to stop caterpillars from climbing up to eat the leaves.

The Hamilton Conservation Authority is piggybacking on the city program to cover a threehectare section of the Loop Trail in the Dundas Valley that it didn’t spray in 2018.

Scarlett said the city will give residents in targeted areas notice via postcards, and will run newspaper ads and publicize the actual date 24 to 48 hours beforehand.