The Town of Newmarket gave residents an up-close and personal look at the Lymantria dispar dispar (LDD) moth egg masses it is asking for help to destroy.
The municipality ran demonstrations at the Riverwalk Commons Oct. 16 and 23, showing how to safely remove the invasive species' eggs from trees. The LDD moth is plaguing towns across the province, damaging vulnerable trees, and the demonstrations are part of a local campaign to mitigate the damage.
Forestry supervisor Joerg Hettmann said the demonstrations have gone well, with dozens of people taking part.
“This is one of the activities we do to interact with the public,” Hettmann said. “Give them the tools and hints and knowledge as to what they can do for their own trees, while the town itself is looking after the municipal trees. And also give them an opportunity to ask questions.”
The province faces an infestation of the invasive species expected to last another two or three years. The caterpillar stage of the moths in the spring is destructive, with the insects eating the foliage off of trees.
The moth is currently at the egg stage, with thousands of egg masses spread across the municipality. The town is marking public trees for mass egg removal with a white dot, but is also asking citizens to take part by scraping off and destroying egg masses they might find on private property. The eggs will hatch in May.
“The benefit that we have right now is we have a long time frame where we can help mitigate that. Help reduce the population for next year,” natural heritage coordinator Tom Longland said.
The town advises you to scrape off masses with gloves and a scraping tool such as a butter knife, putting it into a container. Then, fill the container with water and a bit of dish soap, letting it soak for at least 48 hours before disposing of them. Longland said removing one egg mass can eliminate hundreds of caterpillars.
Hettmann said you should also gather and dispose of fall leaves instead of mulching them right now, as eggs can be laid directly onto leaves and spread through mulching.
The town has done a social media campaign as part of its efforts to mitigate the insect. It also gave away free burlap to hundreds of people as a way to mitigate the caterpillar stage last spring.
Hettman said the efforts are continuing into next year.
“About March, we’ll hopefully have our burlap program running again,” Hettmann said. “We’ll work with our residents in terms of providing them specific information.”
LDD information and updates are available at newmarket.ca/lddmoth.
