# Any gypsy moth experts?



## jkfox624 (Jun 20, 2009)

We had a real bad infestation this year, over 1000 egg masses per acre. I thought i dodged the bullet on my trees but went out this morning and bam my flowering crab is about 75% defoliated, theres a big triple birch, 40' tall beside it thats around 50%. It seemed to happen overnight but i think it was probably the wind that came through with the storm this morning that just ripped the dead leaves off. Question is will the trees survive? Should of taken precautions earlier but i was dumb, hate to lose the trees because they are kind of the center pieces of my front yard. :sad:


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## leeson1776 (Feb 6, 2012)

So was it Gypsy moth or the wind that defoliated your trees? 

If it was wind, the trees should be able to leaf out again. If it's gypsy moth, you should probably treat your trees.


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## jkfox624 (Jun 20, 2009)

leeson1776 said:


> So was it Gypsy moth or the wind that defoliated your trees?
> 
> If it was wind, the trees should be able to leaf out again. If it's gypsy moth, you should probably treat your trees.


The moths are what did them in. Wind just cleaned what little bit of leaves were left. Little to late to treat i think, very few leaves left. It was bad every oak tree, apple tree is completely bare around here.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

Pretty unlikely it was just wind. I've seen winds that took multiple healthy trees down with no noticeable defoliation in the area, especially at this time of year.

It's very difficult to protect a couple of individual trees in the midst of an infested area. :sad:


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## leeson1776 (Feb 6, 2012)

Man, that's terrible. We don't have it out here fortunately. 
It might still be worth spraying your trees. A healthy tree can often stand to be mostly defoliated and still recover. I'd think that if you can have your trees treated affordably, it's probably worth it.


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## leeson1776 (Feb 6, 2012)

Tinstaafl said:


> Pretty unlikely it was just wind. I've seen winds that took multiple healthy trees down with no noticeable defoliation in the area, especially at this time of year.


Severe storms can defoliate trees, especially if there's hail. Happens out here about once a year.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

With hail, all bets are off. :thumbsup:


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## jkfox624 (Jun 20, 2009)

Its bad here really bad. Probably the worst ive seen since early 90's. When they hatched the whole front of my house was black from the little caterpillars. And the hairs irritate your skin something fierce when they get on you. They sprayed some timber stands and state parks but it was costly.


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## CENTERLINE MV (Jan 9, 2011)

I know it's late to post on this. But the tree is probably fine. I used to have my pesticide applicators license and sprayed for those nasty buggers when it was really bad out here. I think it takes at least 2 or 3 seasons of full defoliation before significantly impacting the health of the tree.

We used to spray this stuff: 
http://www.amazon.com/Conserve-Inse...F8&qid=1374532965&sr=8-3&keywords=conserve+sc


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