On November 29 Council agenda there is a report recommending the strategy for dealing with the LDD moth (the European gypsy moth) in 2022 which will be the third year of the cycle. As reviewed In the report the severe defoliation has not had significant long lasting effect on our tree canopy. Aerial spraying is not being proposed: the biological insecticide is not selective; the demonstrated resilience of the trees, particularly the deciduous ones. The staff are proposing once again to do egg mass scraping and to promote such by community members. It’s also indicated that staff are evaluating whether there are select high value trees which would merit additional attention such as ground spraying and or burlap banding. I am in general agreement with the plan provided in the report but I do want to understand better how the conifers have been impacted as I understand that new needles do not emerge to replace those that were stripped by the LDD
From my initial observations I see very few egg masses on trees this fall, and I’m anticipating the coming year (2022) to have far less LLD caterpillars. It may be helpful to check with the TRCA or LSRCA.