If you live in New England , eastern Canada or the Pacific Northwest , you might already be familiar with a serious plant pest known as winter moth . If you are n’t familiar with this negative insect , you might be soon . There ’s a good prospect its range will spread over the coming year and cause more problems for Farmer and gardeners .
What Are Winter Moths?
wintertime moths are a native louse of Europe and persona of Asia . They were first noticed in Nova Scotia and other region of Canada in the 1930s and were first recognise in Massachusetts in the former 2000s . Since then , they ’ve become very plebeian in New England and the Pacific Northwest .
The male adult moths are brown and fairly characterless . Their wingspan measures slenderly larger than three - quarters of an inch . Because the adult are fighting during the recent fall and early winter , you ’ll often see the male moth fly around porch Christ Within at night , as long as the temperature stay above freezing .
The female , on the other hired hand , are even smaller . At just a quarter inch long , the distaff moths are gray and have almost nonexistent wings , stimulate them flightless . Around Thanksgiving prison term , breeding season begins when the females crawl up a tree diagram automobile trunk and emit a pheromone to call in the males .
Soon after conjugation , the female lays ball in the tree diagram bark , where the testicle will stay all winter . In early leaping , the eggs incubate into small caterpillars . Gyorgy Csoka , Hungary Forest Research Institute , Bugwood.orgCCA 3.0 U.S.
What Do Winter Moths Feed On?
manlike and distaff adult wintertime moths do not feed at all , but the caterpillars can be quite destructive . Soon after hatching , the caterpillars crawl up the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree trunks and tunnel into bud scales to feed on them . usual hosts includeblueberry , cherry tree , apple , oak and maple . Damaged leave of absence might be full of tiny shot - holes , though the caterpillars often also prey on flower bud , too .
Winter moths are unusual in that they ’re one of just a few species of moths whose adults are active during the winter months . When the caterpillars are young , they sometimes produce a silken “ chute ” they expend to float on the wind to other host plants .
Just before pupation , the caterpillars can grow to be an column inch long . Though they ’re grim when immature , mature cat are clear green with a long white streak down both side of their body . When they ’re quick , they drop to the ground and pupate under the soil . This often occurs in late spring or early summer . They then stay under the ground until they emerge as an grownup in late pin or early winter to make the next propagation .
Gyorgy Csoka, Hungary Forest Research Institute, Bugwood.orgCCA 3.0 U.S.
Controlling Winter Moths
In regions where winter moth are dominant , abeyant crude oil sprayer in the very recent winter can effectively muffle the eggs , but ensure they ’re put on at the right temperatures .
In some region where wintertime moth is an dynamic pest , biological dominance has been implemented and has been very efficacious . A coinage oftachinid fly(Cyzenis albicans ) lays its egg on innkeeper trees , so that when the winter moth caterpillars feed on the leave-taking , they also consume the rainfly eggs . The tent flap larva then hatches within the caterpillar ’s eubstance and consume it from the inside out .
