Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Bugs!

After ten hectic days at the Calgary Stampede, I've recovered and I'm back driving and walking  around Beiseker. 

I've noticed that we're under attack!  Actually, our trees are under attack!  We appear to have caterpillar infestations on some trees around the village, including one of our new trees on Main Street.  These little critters are munching up the leaves, preparing to make a cocoon and turn into a moth or butterfly. 

A few caterpillars are a normal part of summer - but hundreds or thousands are not good.  Trees will usually regrow damaged leaves but they can only regenerate so fast.  And some of these little critters actually wait for the new growth to feast on!

If one of your trees has more than its fair share of these little munchers, I advise you to watch the situation very carefully.  An easy way to control them is to knock them out of the trees and to the ground with a water stream from a hose, then subdue them before they can climb back up.  You can step on them, but please wash the dead bodies of the public sidewalk! The more you can kill now, the fewer caterpillars you'll have later this summer and/or next year!

If you notice a Village tree with an caterpillar infestation, please call the Village Office at 403-947-3774 and give the location of the tree to them, and they will look after it.

No comments:

Post a Comment