This month, you may start to see orange, brown and black caterpillars making a home on trees in Vaughan. These are spongy moth caterpillars – invasive insects that eat leaves from hardwood trees such as oak, maple, birch and poplar, and select shrubs. City of Vaughan staff continue working to control the spongy moth population and are here to provide tips to help you protect the trees on your property.

What residents can do

The following precautions can be taken this time of year:   

• From May to June: Apply biological control products to affected trees during the correct timing window to reduce infestations. Contact a licensed tree care company early in the season to discuss options for using these products as there is a very short period when you can use them. 
• May to August: Trap caterpillars by wrapping burlap around tree trunks to make it easier to collect them. Check your burlap band daily, remove trapped caterpillars and place them in a bucket of soapy water for at least two days before disposing of the insects in the garbage. 

What the City is doing 

City staff began inspections of more than 5,300 City-owned trees in April throughout heavily infested areas. Staff have effectively removed egg masses from more than 2,200 trees so far this season. The City will begin to implement the following control measures this time of year:  

• In May, the City will begin applying some Btk sprays (a biological control product that is non-toxic to animals, humans, plants and most other insects) from the ground at select park and street tree locations and will inject TreeAzin™ (a biological control product) in trunks of select heritage trees.  
• This month, the City will also start to install barrier bands on select vulnerable trees in street and park locations of high levels of infestation. 

City staff continue to track locations of outbreaks to inform potential next steps.

For more information and links to resources, visit vaughan.ca/SpongyMoth, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affair’s webpage or york.ca/SpongyMoth.

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