Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Arlene Berkey has been there. She moved from New York 25 years ago, from an area riddled with gypsy moths, and described the experience as "beyond awful."
When the insects are in the caterpillar stage from May to June, they can grow up to 2 inches long and consume 11 square feet of foliage during that time.
What goes in must come out, and the Berkey family grabbed umbrellas for outdoor protection from the pests.
Berkey and other Syracuse residents attended a public meeting with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources personnel Thursday in the Syracuse Public Library.
The south side of Lake Wawasee, 1,307 acres, will receive pheromone flake treatment this year, according to Kallie Bontrager, an IDNR nursery inspector for the Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology.
"The little blue chips, saturated with pheromones, cause the adult male to believe there are females everywhere, but he can't find any. He flies around in confusion and eventually dies of 'old age,'" she said.
The gypsy moth pheromone treatment will be applied by airplane in mid-June. The application density is about one cup of flakes per acre.
IDNR Forest Health Specialist Philip T. Marshall held up an 8-1/2- by 11-inch piece of paper with four dots on it.
"This is the density of the flakes," he said.
Treatments, whether the pheromone or the harsher Btk, which kills all caterpillar species, will not eradicate the gypsy moth. The IDNR hopes to slow the spread of the insects, which now advance from northeastern Indiana at a rate of about two kilometers per year. Without treatment, the insects' encroachment would be 20 kilometers per year.
The gypsy moth was introduced from Europe to Massachusetts in 1869. They were thought to be a substitute to silk worms. Escaping their confinement 135 years ago, they have been spreading west and south ever since.
Because adult females cannot fly, gypsy moth spread occurs through the human transportation of egg masses and when young caterpillars crawl to treetops and are blown by the wind.
Most of the isolated pockets of infestation in Indiana have arrived with people bringing the pest here. Such is the case in Syracuse, along Lake Wawasee.
Bontrager made no bones about it. "You are the best mover of gypsy moths," she advised her audience.
Traps are distributed across the state every year, spaced about 2 kilometers apart. Moths have been found in traps near Syracuse Lake, too, but not enough to warrant a treatment program.
The gypsy moth is considered the most serious urban landscape pest in the United States. They prefer to feed on oak leaves, but find more than 500 plants acceptable.
Populations have spread to the entire state of Michigan, one-third of Ohio, portions of Wisconsin and all northeastern states down to North Carolina.
In Indiana, Steuben, LaGrange, Elkhart, DeKalb, Allen and Noble counties are under quarantine by the U.S. Department of Agriculture because of serious gypsy moth infestation.
Residents of quarantined counties moving to other areas are to obtain a certificate indicating their property is gypsy-moth free.
Bontrager showed slides of egg masses on the underside of a propane tank cover on a recreational vehicle and under the seat of a child's tricycle.
"If it's stationary, the female will lay her eggs on it," she said. The masses can contain 1,000 eggs.
Homeowners can wrap their trees with canvas, leaving a flap around the top of the wrap. Caterpillars go underground at night and crawl back up the trees; they get caught in the flap, where they can be killed.
Saturating the egg masses with Golden Sun oil will suffocate emerging caterpillars. Insecticides also are effective for private property owners.
The DNR's program consists of the pheromone treatment, which is paid forby the federal government, and Btk applications. The state pays for half of the Btk applications.
This is the third year for pheromone treatment in Syracuse. It began with an application along the lake's south shore and in a golf course and has enlarged to the current area.
Natural predators include mice and voles, ants and ground beetles. Gypsy moths also are susceptible to viral and fungus infections. The problem is the predators don't seek them out and the bugs have to be weak to succumb to a viral or fungal infection.
"We'll never get rid of them completely," Marshall said.
