Gypsy Moth Eradication

Gypsy Moth Eradication. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

It is that time of the year again. A lot of people are going from point A to point B and true to its name the gypsy moth may be tagging along. Mike Louisell with the Washington State Department of Agriculture says they are gearing up for two treatments.

LOUISELL: We have a project this spring with the gypsy moth, two infestations that our trapping program detected. One in Eatonville and one in Puyallup that is a repeat project and that’s at the South Hill Mall. It’s important to eradicate serious pest insect populations when they are detected.

Louisell says that small green cardboard tent traps are outfitted with a pheromone to detect the gypsy moth. He says they have detected the pest every year since the 1970’s.

LOUISELL: We’ve never had a permanent population develop and that’s because of our aggressive trapping to detect where they are and eradicate small populations before they can increase in size and get out of control.

There is also a lot of follow-up surveillance as well. It might sound strange to have a shopping mall location included.

LOUISELL: You have a lot of traffic there. People from other states who are maybe visiting relatives or shopping from out of state and they might inadvertently on their RV, trailer or pickup truck - maybe a gypsy moth egg mass had gotten on there from one of the 19 states on the east coast and upper midwest that have gypsy moth as a serious problem.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.