Urban Forest Pest Management    (View PDF)

Wu, Zeming, Scott Jamieson, and James Kielbaso

Abstract: Pest management on street trees in the U.S. aims to protect an asset worth nearly $30 billion plus an investment of over $425 million dollars per year, or $10.62 per managed tree. Tree care accounts for only .49% of city budgets, and spraying, a major pest control method, is only 4% of that. Only 36% of responding cities monitor for pests. The most common method is resident complaints (26%), followed by amount of tree damaged (23%) and number of trees damaged (22%). Results are provided by region, but nationally the most often reported insects in 1986 were aphids, gypsy moth, elm leaf beetle, borers and tent caterpillars, while the diseases were Dutch elm disease, anthracnose, Verticillium, maple decline and oak wilt. The most commonly used insecticides were SevinR, malathion, diazinon, OrtheneR and dormant oil, while fungicides were benomyl, bordeaux, zineb and captan. Only about one-fourth of cities employ either systemic treatments or biological control methods.

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https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.1991.041