Of Trees and Bugs

At an international tree industry conference several years ago, Dr. John Ball (a highly respected practitioner, researcher and educator in the field of modern arboriculture) made an interesting statement.  At the beginning of his talk on the benefits of using diverse species in urban tree planting as a way of protecting overall urban forest health, he stated that of all the insect species found on this continent, only a few percent are considered pests.  That tiny percentage includes all sorts of insect pests like mosquitoes, lice, and cockroaches, not just plant insect pests.  So – many of the bugs we might see on trees are likely not a problem, and quite possibly an ally in the effort to maintain good tree health.

Furthermore, most plants can handle a bit of feeding damage, especially leaf feeding.  In the practice of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) there is a concept called “action threshold”, which simply and roughly quantifies the amount of leaf loss that a healthy plant can withstand before we consider control options.  That figure is 20%, which is certainly noticeable to the observant homeowner, but not significant to the tree’s health.

A few tree pests are bad news, like wood-boring beetles.  Their grubs eat the tree’s living vascular tissues and in so doing usually kill the tree.  They like stressed trees, and in the high desert that stress is most often not getting enough water.  Legacy Tree Company knows tree-specific irrigation and can help you help your trees.

Click here to find out more about our Albuquerque tree removal services.