Can anyone recommend the best way of treating a well established infestation
of these critters in my neighbors and my hemlocks??

Thanks,

Glenn

Glenn Meyers wrote:
Can anyone recommend the best way of treating a well established infestation
of these critters in my neighbors and my hemlocks??

Thanks,

Glenn



If the trees are of a size where you can spray easily an insecticidal
soap is possible. Otherwise, a systemic insecticide applied through soil
drench is probably the best option. Injection systemic is another method
used but typically it takes an arborist to do that and it is very expensive.

If you do a Google search for "treat hemlock adelgid" (without quotes of
course) there are several articles that detail possible treatments.

I have at least 20 hemlocks on my property and am weighing the
possibilities myself. Luckily I seem to have no active infestations (or
none that I can see) and my trees are all 25 feet tall. My neighbors
have some trees that are absolutely humongous and which have active
infestations and the arborist's estimates are pretty scary (luckily the
neighbors have a lot more money than I do so maybe life is fair sometimes).

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

On May 14, 7:14 pm, "Glenn Meyers" wrote:
Can anyone recommend the best way of treating a well established infestation
of these critters in my neighbors and my hemlocks??

Thanks,

Glenn

Had some long discussions with the local Agricultural station about
this a few years back. Three options.

1) just ignore it, most infestations aren't very bad. This did not
apply to mine, and sounds like yours, either.

2) dig them up and toss them and plant something else. Might be the
quickest and cheapest in the end. I didn't like the idea.

3) use horticultural oil. spray fairly frequently, cover all the
little *******s, keep it up as fast as they can multiply and I pretty
much eradicated them. The hemlocks stayed all straggly, however, as
the chewed up parts don't recover, they just put out new growth at the
tips.

I would not recomend injections and systemics of chemicals that are not good
to eat for animals. many animails eat parts of the hemlock tree. If these
chemicals go to the needles than they may well just be in the other editable
parts of the tree. Other than that there is a lot on pesticides he
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/spring.html

Hemlock trees do not tolerate fragmentation. Small disturbances such as
post logging can have a great impact of hemlocks.

With respect to the adelgid of Eastern Hemlock. I believe they are a part
of the clean-up crew. Think for a minute about the following information
regarding Hemlock and decline there of. Too often the humans do nasty
things to trees and their associates. then when decline starts. they blame
it on the clean-up crew. A great example is in the Allegheny National
Forest. In sections that were logged heavily years ago they have mortality
which is blamed on drought. But wait, the wood that was removed would have
been water reservoirs for plants and animals during dry time. Now with all
their glory they are logging to address drought issues???????????? Anyway
check this out and for a moment and say its true. Maybe this explains why
Hemlocks in disturbed areas are declining.
Eastern hemlock - Tsuga canadensis
Hemlocks of sawlog size are notoriously subject to wind-shake (481), to
radial stress cracks, and, following sudden exposure, to sunscald of the
bark, and to death. These reactions may be the result of many adverse
effects associated with a changed regime of solar heat and soil moisture and
culminate in a decline often referred to as post-logging decadence. When
hemlocks are left as residual trees following partial cutting, and when they
are exposed, through road or other construction or clearing, they often die,
even when their root area is covered with understory brush (661). Eastern
hemlock is also considered to be one of the species most sensitive to sulfur
fumes from smelters (1933). An interesting type of hemlock ring-shake
follows sapsucker injury.



Reference: Hepting, George, H. July 1971 Disease of Forest and
Shade Trees of The United States US. Dept. Agric. Forest Service Handbook
Number 386 658 pages.



Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.