In last few years, the cotoneaster hedges in Calgary are severely infested by Oystershell scale which causes die back of the hedge and makes dead patchy spots. Oystershell scales suck the fluids of cells underlying the bark, often killing the cells at the feeding site.
The eggs undergo overwintering in the shells of dead mother scales and they start hatching in spring. Crawlers emerge and move to find new sites and start sucking plant juices and secrete a protective shell. As summer starts, they gradually increase in size and become full-grown in midsummer. Eggs are laid in late summer and early fall and the mother scale dies at the end of the season. Eggs produced in late summer remain under the protective wax cover of the mother throughout winter.
Oysterscale is one of the “Armored Scales” in which adult has the outer shell that is impenetrable to traditional pesticide sprays. Therefore timing of treatment is very critical for controlling Oystershell scale. The best time to spray insecticides is immediately after babies, called “crawlers,” are hatched and have not developed their protective armoured coating. This is generally from June first week to third week in Calgary, depending on weather.
The adult of white pine weevil is a small rust-colored weevil with a long snout-like beak. The larva is white with a distinct brown head, lives beneath the bark.
Both adult and larva feed the terminal buds of the leader tree but most damage is done by larvae generally in spring. The first symptom of weevil attack is resin oozing from feeding punctures. The presence of the insect is easily detected by the dropping, wilted appearance of the current year’s leader, which resembles a shepherd’s crook.
Birch leaf miner is one of the most common leaf problems in Calgary and surrounding areas between May and mid-September.
The newly hatched larvae feed within the leaf. Damage appears as a small brown or reddish-brown, irregular-shaped patch (a “mine”) on the upper surface of the leaf.
In last few years in Calgary, the problem of elm scale is getting bigger and bigger. The problem is even worst in public boulevard trees.
Crawlers begin feeding on leaves from May to June and later they migrate off of the leaves to overwintering sites on the twigs and branches. Elm scale feeds by piercing leaves and bark, and sucking juices from the tree. Heavy infestations may kill or weakened trees and cause branch dieback in healthy trees. Large amounts of honey dew are produced which eventually cause the leaves to be covered with grayish/black colored sooty mold. The sooty mold reduces the aesthetic appearance of trees and honeydew can become a nuisance as it coats patios, decks, and vehicles.
Spider mites damage host plants by sucking plant fluid from needles as they feed. Both larvae and nymphs feed on foliage. Infested trees at first have a speckled, yellowish appearance, and lack rich green color. After prolonged feeding, needles turn rusty colored and may drop prematurely. Mites usually attack older needles located in the lower and inner parts of the plants.
The larva bore into the phloem and cambium layers after emerging from their eggs on the bark. The borers’ tunneling weakens and kills trees by interrupting the flow of sap.
Common symptoms are death of the leader, canopy thinning and dieback in the top of the crown and raised, horizontal and zigzag ridges in bark.
This pest is most common in Mountain Ash in Calgary. They feed on the underside of the leaves and cause development of blisters on the upper leaf surface. These raised spots are generally light green, round, and look somewhat wrinkled. Older leaf blisters may turn brown. Severe infestations may result in premature leaf drop.
Adelgids feed by sucking plant sap and cause characteristic cone-like growths or galls on spruces. Damage first occurs in late May when the new growth of the branch tips form into cone-shaped galls. The galls are green at first but later turn a reddish-purple color. The old galls dry out and turn a reddish-brown color and may remain on the branches for several years. By the time the galls turn brown, the adelgids have left.
Aphids feed on soft leaves of many species like Birch, Maple, Mayday, Hawthorn and many shrubs. Aphids can reproduce without mating in summer, so populations can rapidly increase.
Aphids cause damage by piercing the soft plant tissue and sucking plant sap.They excrete “honeydew”, which make leaves appear shiny. Sooty mould fungus grows on this honeydew, creating a black scum that can stick to cars, patio furniture, decks and sidewalks located beneath aphid-infested trees.
Leaf rollers mostly affect green ash trees and arecommon pests in Calgary. Young caterpillars feed on new leaf and roll the leaf into a characteristic cone shape. The larvae will continue to feed within this enclosure until the pupal stage. Larvae feed until mid or late June and the adult moths will emerge from the leaf cone starting about mid-July.
The larvae of this insect are voracious eaters and strip needles from spruce, and those needles will never grow back. They attack new needle first, chew down almost to the base before the insect moves on to older needles. The bud at the tip is still alive, and will produce new needles next spring.
Black and mountain ash are found attacking by this insect in Calgary. Green ash is not affected. They feed by piercing plant tissue and sucking sap. This feeding causes leaf puckering and curling, and early leaf drop. Inside the curled leaf there is a cottony material surrounding the insect.
Budgall mites suck the sap from buds and unfolding leaf clusters of the lower branches in the spring which causes further twig growth to stop and cauliflower-like swellings (galls) to form. The mites live in the new galls, which are dark green, succulent, and covered with minute hairs. By late summer the galls have become hard and dry, and brick red in colour.