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Tree Banding

• Tree Banding Update
• What is the Fall Cankerworm?
• Getting Supplies
• Banding Timeline and Instructions
• Grid Captains and Communicators
• Download a Grid Map (PDF)
• About PMNA Tree Banding

Tree Banding Update (4/26/08)

It is TIME to take down your tree bands.  Get those sticky, yucky, bands off the bark and let your trees breathe.  Don't even think about leaving them up until next year, unless you want other infestations to occur in the bark!  Put it #1 on your weekend to-do list, and take 'em off!
 
Also, in my opinion (I agree with the Observer), I really think the spraying did a great job!  The City will have to do it again in a few years, but this spring wasn't bad AT ALL.  So let's keep banding and make it SEVERAL great springs in a row.
 
Thanks for taking care of your trees!
Gretchen Carlson, PMNA Treebanding Coordinator

What is the Fall Cankerworm?

Fall Cankerworms are extremely destructive caterpillars that hatch from eggs in early spring, about the time tree leaves are unfolding. Cankerworms feed on leaves for three to four weeks, then either crawl or drop to the ground on silken threads and pupate in the soil. Fall cankerworms emerge as adult moths in late fall usually in early December after a hard freeze. The male cankerworms have wings and the females are wingless.  The females crawl up tree trunks onto branches, are mated by winged males, and then lay single-layered masses of flower-pot shaped eggs on limbs and trunks.  

Tree banding efforts try to catch the wingless females as they crawl up the trees by wrapping a tar paper band covered with a layer of sticky tanglefoot around the trunks of likely cankerworm targets.

Elm, apple, oak and many other fruit and shade trees are normally attacked by cankerworms, although they have been known to eat about anything with leaves during a heavy outbreak. Entire leaves are eaten, leaving only the large veins. Generally most damage occurs about the time the leaves become fully developed. Trees may be completely stripped of foliage, some never having a chance to leaf out.

How to Get Supplies

Supplies will be available at the Second Annual Fall Crawl, October 27, 2007 in Midwood Park!  Price will be discount rate of $1 per foot, while supplies last.  Thanks to McNeary's Arborist and Barnhardt Manufacturing, the Plaza Midwood Neighborhood Association is able to offer these materials at a fraction of the hardware store price.

Please note: PMNA makes an effort to help out our elderly and indigent neighbors who are unable to band their trees. Please contact your grid captain if you need such assistance.

Banding Timeline and Instructions

• Tree bands should go up starting mid November. Although there are different kinds of bands, the most frequently used include a cotton batting layer covered with tar paper. Although cankerworms will eat just about anything during a big outbreak, efforts normally focus on protecting the big Willow Oaks and anything higher than 2 stories.
• Wrap the tree in cotton batting (fold it in half if it is wider than the tar paper) 4-8 feet above the ground, making sure to fill the cracks and crevices of the trunk. Use a few staples to hold it in place.
• Staple the tar paper tightly over the batting, completely covering it. Concentrate on fastening the lower edge flush.  Any holes beneath the tar paper will allow a path for the bugs.
• The tanglefoot (the sticky stuff) is applied on top of the bands in late November/early December... prior to real cold weather, but following defoliation of the trees.
• Bands should be monitored throughout winter for build-up of bugs, and may need additional Tanglefoot. Bugs can crawl over their stuck comrades and make it over your band!
• The worms start hatching in late Winter, peaking in late December/early January and continue through February.
• Bands can be removed in early March to prevent damage to the underlying tree trunk. A lot of funky stuff can grow under those bands!
• Late March to late April is the time when the eggs hatch and the damage is done as the trees' leaves begin to grow... and the time when our hard work pays off for the sake of our tree canopy!

Grid Captains / Communicators

Download Grid Map (PDF)

Grid #	Name	e-mail
1 N	Nick Triplett	ntriplett@carolina.rr.com
1 S	Gary Frame	gframe@rohmhaas.com
2	Volunteer needed
3	Patricia Connally	patriciaconnally@hotmail.com
4	Volunteer needed
5	Libby Pistolzsi and Joy Markley	ezpistol@aol.com, madelinemarkley@aol.com
6	Michele Hagan * Pending other helpers	HaganMichele@aol.com
7	Steve Dunn	sdunn2@carolina.rr.com
8	Karen Geiger	kag@mindspring.com
9	Catherine Kincheloe	cawilkinson@carolina.rr.com
10	Udo Robitsch	UR211@frieling.com
11	Londa Strong and Lesa Dillard	londastrong@yahoo.com
12	Helen Lipman	hlipman@carolina.rr.com
13	Cecilia Brien	LGTAT15@yahoo.com
14	Chris Metzler	crmetzle@hotmail.com
15	Scott Vanhatten	scott.vanhatten1@wachovia.com
16	William Parcher and Jason Chamberlain	williamparcher@hotmail.com

 

About PMNA Tree Banding

Fall is time to get ready for the annual cycle of the cankerworm defense in Plaza Midwood by banding our trees! The goal of tree banding is to help protect our wonderful old oaks from the onslaught of the destructive cankerworm.   Thanks to our hard work over the past several years, we have seen significant improvement in our crusade against the cankerworms. In fact, our overall neighborhood education about tree banding has improved to the point where neighbors are banding their own trees with their own supplies. This was one of our original goals for the project.

The PMNA created the annual Fall Crawl Cankerworm Festival in the summer of 2006. Scheduled for the last Saturday in October, the festival is intended to help bring attention to our efforts to stop these pests. Together with the tree banding strategies that have been successful in past years, the neighorhood association is hopeful that we can make even greater strides to protect one of our neighborhood’s most valuable assets.  Thanks for your support!