Other Common Insects

As arborists, we encounter many different types of insects.  Here are some honorable mentions:

Strawberry Root Weevil

 While you sleep safely in your bed, these nocturnal feeders will climb up your plants, eat notches out of the edges of the leaves, then hide again in the soil.  You awake and see the damage with no suspect in sight.  Even worse, their larvae feed on the roots, stunting the overall growth and health of the plant.  Let us fight these vandals for you. As they are active from May-Sept, multiple treatments will be needed to fully control them.

 

Webworms

Walking under a grove of Oak trees can be scary in the spring if you have webworms.  These inch long caterpillars dangle from the tree on a thread of silk, waiting to land on your shoulder as you pass by.  When not terrorizing the pedestrians below, webworms enjoy fattening up on the leaves of your oak trees with their friends.  In large numbers, they quickly defoliate the tree, leading to dieback.  We can kick them out of your yard for you.  Give us a call.

 

Leaf Miner

You thought walking the edge of a knife blade was hard, try living inside a leaf.  After hatching in late spring, the larvae feed in between the two outer layers of the leaves, causing a browned spot in the middle.  When they have eaten enough, these tiny worms chew their way out, fall to the ground, and burrow into the ground until spring the following year.  There they stay until the next spring when they hatch as adults and fly to your trees to begin the cycle again. At first, their damage is mostly just an eyesore.  But as they populate, leaf miners will defoliate and kill your tree.  We have different treatment options for leaf miners. Call us so we can develop a plan to control them.

 

Plant Bugs

It may sound like someone got lazy when naming these bugs, but they are real.  In fact, there is a whole insect family of them (Miridae).  They can be found primarily on Sycamore trees in our area.  Plant bugs inject an enzyme into the leaf tissue and then suck up the partially digested fluid.  They start out by making the tree look bad, but in large numbers, they will defoliate the tree and cause serious damage, even death.

 

Lace Bugs

Although the name sounds frilly, don’t underestimate their seriousness.  They suck sap from the undersides of leaves, causing a brown, speckled appearance, similar to spider mite damage.  They mostly attack our oaks here in Utah.  During the summer, look for their black eggs on the underside of the leaf.  Call for diagnosis and treatment of lace bugs.