Gypsy Moth Update as of 6/2/08

[KatherineA]

will "regular" bug spray or somthing like Sevin kill the moths?

[campbell]

Please don't tell me you are seeing them KatA 'cause if you are then they are really spread out. Pez is right on- if we hadn't sprayed the block and treated that buffer we would really have swarms rather than a few. Unfortunately though I am seeing them all over. I have yet to find a female though. Have looked under rocks, logs, etc where the sneaky gals hang out and haven't found a one. I don't know - maybe they just hatch out later.

[campbell]

I forgot on the bug spray, I really don't know whether it would kill them or not, but I imagine it would.

[shadowplay]

You could kill them with bug spray or whatever, but you'd have to spray the actual moth.

[campbell]

I just heard from another very astute gypsy moth observer that he has seen tons of males but no females after inspection of his property. This is a critical factor because if there are no females then there will not be an increase in the population. I REALLY need to know what folks are observing in terms of the females so please observe and report. As I said before, I too have not seen one female. We will be re-posting pictures soon of the female and egg mass and the egg mass once the female has died off so hopefully that will help in identifcation. I just keep hoping that maybe the fungus made the females infertile, but to be honest that is total speculation and hope.

[toberah]

Once the fungus hit, we haven't seen any live ones around here. Maybe a male on the screen yesterday, but no females so far... We haven't been searching though, just observing.

[shadowplay]

Here is what the egg masses look like in a group.



The females are the white, immobile ones. The males are gray and generally fly around in annoying circles.

[campbell]

Thank you Toberah for reporting and SP for the pictures to further aid people in helping to identify and report. Remember, although WVDA does a wonderful job in surveying our communty they cannot catch every area with an infestation so it is extremely important for ALL landowners to observe what is going on with their property and inform us. We will have a sheet at the picnic for you to put your name and address if you have seen gm sitings this summer on your property so please stop by our table, check out the information, and make a report of what is going on with your own property. Look forward to seeing you at the picnic and answering any questions you might have.

[campbell]

Have talked to Arnold, the person that does our surveys and he definitely would like a list of "hot spots" Again, I will have a sheet at the picnic for you to put your name and address if you have seen evidence of the caterpillars and now moths. If you can't be there and haven't given me your address previously please send it to me by the end of July. He confirmed our theory that the top of the mountain doesn't have the browning like it did last year because the winds took them down the mountain. They are now more widespread and less concentrated. Of course next year is another story! I have found in the past day a few females with healthy egg masses, but Arnold who checked things out up here recently felt the fungus has definitely reduced them. He will know more after he does the survey hopefully in August.

[Fuddy]

I live in northwest of Shannondale (off from Gate one) and I had to destroy about 15 egg masses which are located against two sides of my house just right under wooden deck. The females were really immobile to say the least. I did not see any egg masses on any of the trees on my property. So I do not know if this is any helpful or interesting information. Those are identical to the pictures above.

[shadowplay]

Good job on identifying and taking action on the egg masses on your property, Fuddy.

Large areas of Shannondale have a low grade infestation that was not really bad enough to cause generalized defoliation this year, due to our spraying, but has the potential to give rise to bad defoliation in future years. The females mature to moth/breeding stage after the males, so now is the time to really be on the lookout for developing egg masses. The upper, gate one region seems to be a particularly bad hot spot.

[campbell]

Now is the time to be looking for the females and egg masses. Once the female moth dies and drops off, the masses are a lot harder to spot. The masses I have found are on log piles, rocks, behind bird houses, sides of the house, etc. and not as many on trees. Scrape the mass off with a knife and dispose of it in clorox water. And definitely come to the S&B picnic this Sunday! SGMC will have a table full of information and pictures to help in identification. Also a sign up sheet for those to report gypsy moth infestation on their property.

[campbell]

The WVDA will hopefully be starting their egg mass surveys in Shannondale/RVP and JBF in August. There is great concern about what we might be facing in 2009. There were small pockets of very widespread gypsy moth infestations all over the mountain including our block due to the blow in from untreated areas. Small pockets less than 50 acres cannot be treated so it might mean that we are going to have to treat large areas. The cost of spraying is going to increase dramatically in 2009 due to the price of gas, but I don't know yet what the cost per acre will be. If we do end up having to treat large areas at a dramatic increase in the cost per acre, the spraying cost may be very high in 2009. The one unknown is exactly how much the fungus impacted the gm population this year. It definitely reduced it but there are still healthy egg masses. As soon as I get any new information I will post.

[campbell]

Forgot to mention- The SGMC will soon be updating the gate three mail shed poster board with pictures of egg masses and who to contact if you see them on your property.

[campbell]

We also have our informational gypsy moth flyer available at the community info. table at Biz Market.

[campbell]

Talked to WVDA today and they hope to complete the survey here by the end of the month. It will take a while longer though to know the cost for treatment next year. They do not yet know the cost per acre and there are a lot of steps with determining that. I will post survey results once I learn them.