Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PIERCETON - Last year the Kosciusko County gypsy moth population was kept in check with an application of pheromone flakes aerially applied over Hillcrest Cemetery and south of Lake Wawasee.
This year the Indiana Department of Resources' "Slow the Spread Program" is expanding to Dewart and Robinson lakes, where inspections and traps show an infestation.
According to Kelly Bontrager of the IDNR's Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology, the moths haven't spread out of the cemetery but have migrated from the two large oaks there into the other hardwood trees.
Plans are to treat the ground in Hillcrest, south of Pierceton off Ind. 13, with Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki), considered an extreme measure. This kills all caterpillars, even the beneficial species. The application is planned for May.
Traps in Syracuse show a reduced population. Because of budgetary constraints, Syracuse will go untreated this year.
The new sites include the southeast shore of Dewart Lake and 721 acres around Robinson Lake.
Aerial spraying of Disrupt¨ II in these two areas is scheduled for early June, before the males begin to fly.
Disrupt II is a gypsy moth controlled-release pheromone formula designed to disrupt normal male flight orientation to females.
People from highly infested areas more than likely introduced the latest gypsy moth populations.
The white-colored females, who do not fly, will lay their egg cases on anything anywhere - on nursery stock, the undercarriages of any vehicle, firewood or outdoor furniture - anything that has been outside. Each case can produce up to 1,500 eggs.
The male is brown with distinctive feathery antennae. The female is white. Both are marked with dark inverted "V's" pointing to a "dot" on both wings.
Each caterpillar can grow up to 2 inches long and will eat up to 11 square feet of foliage from early May until June.
The hairy caterpillars have distinctive markings - five pairs of blue dots and six pairs of red dots.
Moving to the ground during the day to avoid predators, caterpillars can literally rain from the treetops. Their excrement also falls from the trees, hitting everything beneath it.
Caterpillars spin a silk thread that will catch on the wind and take them to other trees.
The best defense for homeowners is to maintain their trees in the best manner possible, to search for egg masses and eliminate them.
A healthy tree can withstand a year or two of defoliation.
Older, less vigorous trees weakened by drought and isolated trees in an urban setting can be killed with a single defoliation by the caterpillars.
Bontrager will appear at the Pierceton Blue Lion Coffee House Saturday at noon to speak to Tippecanoe Audubon Society members. A field trip to the cemetery will be conducted.
For more information, contact the Department of Entomology, Purdue University, 765-494-5983, or IDNR, 317-232-4120.
The Kosciusko County Extension Office and the Soil and Water Conservation District have further information about the gypsy moth and facts about maintaining healthy trees.
On the Net:
www.state.in.us/dnr/entomology/gypsy.htm and www.entm.purdue.edu/Entomology/est/Moth/index.htm
