VICTORIA, BC — A small, targeted area with a developing gypsy moth population on Salt Spring Island will receive a…
VICTORIA, BC — A small, targeted area with a developing gypsy moth population on Salt Spring Island will receive a combination of ground spray treatment and mass trapping to reduce the risk of the moth population expanding.
The treatment consists of three ground applications of Dipel 2XDF between May 15 and June 20, 2007 to control the moth. Dipel 2XDF contains Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki (Btk), a naturally occurring, soil-based organism that only impacts caterpillars that eat sprayed leaves. Btk is naturally present in urban, forest and agricultural soil around the province. It has been approved to control gypsy moth larvae since 1961. The Certified Organic Growers Association of BC considers organic growers use of Dipel 2XDF acceptable.
The Dipel 2XDF will be applied by trained and licensed technicians and vehicles. Residents in the area will be informed of the treatment in advance by written notice. Technicians, going door to door, will also precede equipment on each of the three treatment dates, advising each residence of the application. The first treatment is likely to be May 15.
The 10-hectare treatment area is along approximately 500 metres of the Fulford-Ganges Road, just east of the Lee Road intersection. A map of the treatment area can be viewed at www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/gypsymoth online. Treatment dates are weather dependent. Information is also available from the gypsy moth information line, 1-866-917-5999, 24 hours per day.
Following the final treatment application, several hundred traps that attract male moths prior to the mating season will be placed in the area. The traps prevent moths from mating as well as evaluating their population status. Volunteers participated in egg mass searches and placing and retrieving hundreds of traps in the mass trapping component of the project in 2006. The volunteer program will run again this year.
Large gypsy moth populations defoliated sections of forests and residential areas in Ontario and the eastern U.S. in recent years and pose a threat to the provinces forests, orchards and urban trees. The moths are unintentionally brought to B.C. on vehicles and materials from affected areas in eastern North America on an ongoing basis. The presence of moths can pose a quarantine threat and in 1999 resulted in the U.S. threatening to refuse shipments of trees and plants from BCs nurseries without additional certification.
Source: BCs Ministry of Forests and Range
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