What is growing on?
It’s that time of year again! National Invasive Species Awareness Week (NISAW) is coming this way, Feb. 2428.
The Plant Industry Bureau works to prevent, survey for, regulate and eradicate, harmful invasive pests and diseases. Many of these invasives are introduced into Wisconsin, from other states, and go on to negatively impact natural resources, communities and businesses.
Two key principles of preventing the establishment of new pests and diseases, are early detection and rapid response. After all, it’s never known when movement of plant material will bring the next invasive pest to a neighborhood, which is why it’s important for Wisconsinites to watch for, and report, these pests, as soon as they are observed.
This year, watch fir trees for the invasive balsam woolly adelgid (BWA). BWA is a tiny sap-sucking insect, closely related to the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), which also negatively impacts hemlock trees. BWA is native to Europe, and not yet known to be in Wisconsin. However, this pest has been found as close as Michigan.
BWA feeds in bark cracks in trees, injecting toxins that cause branch deformities and tree mortality. BWA can build up large populations through asexual reproduction and by completing three generations each year. This pest has destroyed over 95 percent of the fraser fir in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, along with other major forest and Christmas tree impacts, in western and eastern states.
BWA would most likely arrive to Wisconsin, on infested nursery stock, Christmas trees, firewood or other tree products.
What to look for:
• White, waxy or woolly tufts on the trunk of fir trees. Note that early infestations may be harder to notice, so look closely.
• Branch deformities, such as gouting, wilting, curling or drooping.
• Flagging (a branch, or branches, that turn brick-red, or otherwise start to lose needles and die).
• Tree crowns that become narrow and misshapen, with few needles.
Help protect balsam and other firs that are important species in Wisconsin forests, and the Christmas tree industry.
To report a pest or disease that is not known to be present in Wisconsin, or to report one that has spread to a new area within the state, call the Pest Hotline, at 866-4407523, or email a photo and the location, to datcppesthotline@ wi.gov.
