Protecting Your Trees and Plants from Pests

At The Veron Company, caring for your trees and shrubs is a major part of our landscaping services. Maintaining their overall health and longevity is crucial to a beautiful, lush landscape. One of the biggest culprits, destroying your landscape, is an insect infestation. While we can treat such a problem, prevention is key. If you don’t want to have to deal with an infestation ruining your beautiful lawn and gardens, read on.

Don’t Get Bugged This Spring

This spring, The Veron Company is pleased to offer additional insect prevention and more fertilization services. We use a three-step Integrated Pest Management program that controls insects and diseases, keeping your foliage healthy. Not only can certain diseases and funguses kill plants, but damage to them is unsightly, not to mention costly.

The Veron Company offers sprays for gypsy moth caterpillars, which are one of the leading causes of destruction in hardwood trees. We also use Dormant Oil, a product that controls all kinds of insects and diseases. Dormant Oil is best used in March when plants are dormant. We’ll talk more about these products today.

Controlling Gypsy Moths

It’s important to keep your yard as clean and uncluttered as possible. If you have a lot of debris, such as dead branches, lying around, a female moth may lay eggs in those places. It’s best to apply sprays when caterpillars are young. You can tell the age of them by their length. When they are young, they’re less than an inch long.

You can also leave preventative barriers around tree trunks. But once you’ve spotted some caterpillars on the tree and / or leaves, you’ll need to use sprays. We have many sprays that target these pests, and, depending on the stage of the infestation, some trees may need repeated applications. It’s important to note: We use sprays that are non-toxic to other helpful insects, such as honey bees.

How Dormant Oil Works

Dormant Oil is the best preventative tool for many species of insects, and it’s usually applied in late winter and early spring. The oil works by smothering the insects, as well as their eggs, which disrupts the way they feed and hatch. The best part is that this oil has no negative effect on the plant being treated.

Advantages of Dormant Oil

Dormant Oil works well on a variety of insects, including honey locust mites, European red mites and spruce spider mites. Insects aren’t likely to build up a resistance to the oil, and the oil won’t kill those insects that are beneficial to plants and trees. How great is that?

When to Call Professionals

It’s better to call on professionals to do this application, because there are many advanced, commercial oils we use that contain emulsifiers that enable the oils to mix with water. They are highly refined products that do a better job than oils that have been used in the past. Also, the oil must be applied properly, so that young leaves aren’t accidentally killed. If the correct amount of oil isn’t used, the edges of leaves can even turn black.

Knowing what to spray, how much and which season is optimum for use is important in keeping your landscape looking its best.

For more tips, keep checking our blog all spring long!   

The Veron Company is your partner in perfect landscaping. We’re dedicated to providing organic, environmentally-friendly and beautiful landscaping, as well as other services.  Contact us today to let us go to work for you!

The Veron Company, serving Marlborough, Massachusetts and surrounding areas, including Cape Cod since 1982.