Page 4 - News On 7 June 2021
P. 4

INVASIVE SPECIES, GYPSY MOTH
      written by: Mary Jane Goodchild
      I would like to bring your attention to an Invasive Species, GYPSY MOTH!!   Last year we were invaded by small moths flying in the air
      around our outdoor spaces.  It all begins in the spring when we notice these tiny worms making their way down our trees on a spiker
      type web. When they reach the ground, they travel to the nearest tree trunk to climb up and eat the leaves. Most times you can hear
      them munching on the leaves as we sit out to enjoy our surroundings.
      During the fall and winter, you may have noticed sizeable patches of white masses on our trees. These masses contain hundreds of
      eggs just waiting to burst open with these tiny worms. I have thousands in my back yard. These egg masses survive the winter months
      and when the weather warms up they burst open.
      They eat the leaves until they are fully grown. You will see they are black with red dots on their backs.  These worms can eat an
      average of one square foot per worm. That is a lot of leaves.  Once they are at this stage, they go into a cocoon stage. Brown cocoons
      on the bark of the tree. Hard to see at this stage. These worms come out of their cocoons as a light brown small moth. At this time,
      they fly around until they are ready to mate with the female. The females stay on the tree bark until the male comes to fertilize her so
      she can lay more eggs. The cycle begins all over again. The female is darker multicolour brown that camouflage with the tree bark.
      The male and female then die.
      These moths do not have any predators to get rid of them. In some areas of Ontario, they are aerial
      spraying many parks and more. The spray they are using is Biopesticide that does not harm animals,
      birds and people. They do the spraying very early in the morning. I have not seen any indication for
      plans to spray in our area and county. I would like to encourage people to ask their council and MPs to
      help with this problem.
















                                                           I  belong  to  the  Ontario  Forestry
                                                           association  and  they  are  having  a
                                                           webinar about the Gypsy moth on June
                                                           10,  2021  from  7  pm.  –  8:30  pm.  If
                                                           anyone is interest in learning more go
                                                           to
                                                           https://www.invasivespeciescentre.ca
                                                           /learn/webinar-series

                                                           You can also go online to find out more
                                                           about this invasive species.



















                       madocchamer@gmail.com
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