Oak trees are a preferred feeding and breeding hardwood species for gypsy moths.
Oak is a favored food species for gypsy moths, and keeping the creatures away from your oaks and other hardwood trees can be a challenge. Stopping summer infestations of gypsy moths in your oak trees requires preventative actions to get ahead of the problem. Physical, chemical and trapping controls are most effective. Combining these with vigilant maintenance each year will make your yard and stand of oak trees as inhospitable as possible to gypsy moths throughout their life cycle.
Instructions
1. Plant tree and perennial species near your oak tree that gypsy moths naturally avoid, such as ash, butternut, black walnut, locust, sycamore, yellow poplar, ferns, mountain laurel, redbud or rhododendron. Oak is a favorite of the gypsy moth so "hiding" it among unfavorable species serves as an ongoing deterrent.
2. Maintain the oak tree health fastidiously. Healthy trees free from stresses have natural anti-insect defenses. Water deeply and consistently, providing a minimum of 1 inch of water every week during the growing seasons. Fertilize once per year in the spring as needed, and prune away dead, diseased or compromised wood regularly. Remove lawn, and mulch around the base of the tree to insulate the surface roots and protect them and the trunk base from lawn mower wounds.
3. Clear away all debris in the wider area around the tree where gypsy moths shelter, such as woodpiles or brick piles, signs, old equipment, dead tree stumps and the like. This will force the moths out into the open where their natural predators can easily catch and consume them.
4. Wrap your oak tree trunks and all hardwood tree trunks in the area with 12- to 18-inch-long burlap skirts positioned chest high on the trunk. This will provide gypsy moth caterpillars with a daytime shelter from which you can easily collect and destroy them. Check under the burlap skirt everyday and flick all of the caterpillars into a jar of water and detergent to drown them. Put the skirts in place by early- to mid-May; keep them up through the end of July.
5. Pick off and destroy the egg masses laid by gypsy moths. Inspect tree trunks, under loose bark, the undersides of patio furniture, bird houses and all other dry, sheltered areas in the vicinity. Scrape the masses off with the edge of a spoon and drop them into water-and-detergent solution, or burn them. Do this frequently from late June through April each year. Each 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch egg mass can hold 500 to 1,000 caterpillars and future gypsy moths.
6. Spray oak trees and other gypsy moth hardwood favorites with an insecticide product containing the active ingredient Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (often shortened and called BT), such as Dipel or Thuricide. Apply according to the product label dosing and timing directions.
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