Hello fine customers of Heartwood,

The colder winter weather is rapidly approaching.  Fall is the time when plants and insects are starting to shut down and take cover till spring. Many landscape pests can survive over winter in the form of eggs on the bottom sides of leaves or under the shells of their parents. If you’ve ever had  whiteflies on your Gardenias, there’s a very good chance you can just flip a leaf over and find small white circles on the underside. These are whitefly eggs and they are just waiting to hatch next spring and begin feeding again. Many insects overwinter this way or in similar fashion but whitefly, lace bugs, spider mites and scales are the most common here in Charlotte. A great way to help take care of these pests in an organic and responsible way is with horticultural (dormant) oil treatment applied to your trees and shrubs. This foliar spray is a refined, natural, petroleum based product. The spray helps control pests by smothering them and essentially suffocating them and by disrupting cell membranes allowing their moisture to escape and drying them out (very effective on eggs). In most cases the application is targeted to the bottom sides of leaves (Whitefly, lace bug, tea scale) or to the stems trunks and branches of trees and shrubs (gloomy scale, lecanium scale and Crape Myrtle Bark scale…). This treatment will not eliminate every pest, but it can go a long way towards reducing next season’s pest populations. This is a great addition to any Watchdog program or landscape care plan. If you are interested in this option or would like to learn more please give us a call at (704) 525-3066 and we will happily put you in touch with one of our fine Arborists.

Thank you, Stephen Clough

Plant Health Care manager – Heartwood Tree Service

ISA Certified Arborist – SO-6950A