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Indiana's Department of Natural Resources is scheduling meetings about gypsy moth treatments this winter, and one is set for Feb. 29 from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Syracuse Public Library.
According to DNR entomologist supervisor Gayle Jansen, the Lake Wawasee area will be treated with aerial spraying of Disrupt¨ II in early June, before the male moths begin to fly.
Disrupt II is a controlled-release pheromone formula designed to disrupt normal male flight orientation to females.
The treatment is not as drastic as a second option to stop the advance of the tree defoliating insects. Disrupt II confuses the male moths. Applications of Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki) kill the caterpillars and all other insects.
The extreme process paid off south of Pierceton, however, where an infestation of gypsy moths was discovered a few years ago. Two consecutive applications of Btk ended the foothold the moths had in the Hillcrest Cemetery area.
No moths were found on the southeast shore of Dewart Lake or around Robinson Lake last year.
"We thought that we did a really good job in Pierceton last year," Jansen said. "We will be trapping in Pierceton again this year just to be sure. Did catch a couple of moths. It's definitely not what it was when egg masses were plastered on the tombstones."
The southern end of Lake Wawasee remains a concern, however, as it has for the past several years. Jansen suspects human travelers are bringing in caterpillars and/or egg masses on outdoor equipment, trailers and other vehicles from highly infested areas.
The gypsy moth population has 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.
Residents of quarantined counties may not move from those areas without a certificate indicating they are gypsy-moth free.
"We haven't seen heavy defoliation in Indiana," Jensen said. "The problem is spreading, but going really slowly."
The gypsy moth is considered the most serious and urban landscape pest in the United States. A large infestation is capable of defoliating 3 million acres of forest a year - the approximate equivalent of 70 percent of Indiana's forested acreage.
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.
For more information, call the DNR Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology, 317-232-4120.
