Gypsy Moth Program
2009 Spray Program
Day-to-Day Changes
2009 Gypsy Moth Spray Program
Centre County has begun taking requests for spraying gypsy moths in 2009 from County residents. As in 2008, we will be participating in the state program, administering it at the County level. The homeowner cost-share will be $21/acre, up from $17/acre in 2008, largely due to the increase in the cost of fuel and the Bt pesticide.
County residents may request spraying on their properties until SEPTEMBER 15, 2008. After that date, it will not be possible to sign up for the spray program. (We originally announced the date as September 30, which was not acceptable to DCNR).
As in previous years, the state program is a forested residential program spraying a 500ft area around residences and cabins. It is NOT a program to spray landowners’ forest stands. (Those landowners should contact the PA Bureau of Forestry to find out about the Forest Stewardship program or arrange such spraying privately.)
Unless you live in an urban area, you must request participation in the spray program in order to be considered for gypsy moth spraying. The situation is somewhat different for residents in urban areas. Some urban municipalities may request the County to include their urban areas and will cover the homeowner costs. Others will require homeowners to pay cost-shares but in such cases, requests by around 10% of the homeowners in the area will ensure that the whole area will be evaluated for spraying.
To sign up to have your property sprayed, just click on 'Request Spraying in 2009' on this page and follow the instructions.
Karl M - July 15, 2008
2008 Program Summary
The DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry finished spraying all but one of the spray blocks in Centre County on Saturday, May 28. I have received mostly good reports from residents in the spray blocks. This is significant as the product that was sprayed, Bt, was hard-pressed to perform in many of the areas which had large, building populations of gypsy moths. One contributing factor to this success was that the state decided to increase the dose by 70% over previous years.
I have followed up many of the complaints that the County received concerning poor treatment and in most cases they are based on unreasonable expectations by homeowners on how Bt acts. The DCNR continuously forewarns homeowners that on average Bt controls less than 80% of the caterpillar population, so even though their trees may be protected, they will not be completely rid of their nuisance value.
However, there was one consistent source of complaints by homeowners – those living in Greenbriar (Deerfield Drive). When the homeowners showed me the lack of gypsy moth control that had occurred there, I contacted DCNR who promptly sent our District Forester to investigate. It became apparent that for some reason, the block had been left out of the spray schedule. So on Friday, June 13, the area was finally sprayed by DCNR’s main contractor.
Contact Us
Your e-mail messages are welcome at gypsymoth@co.centre.pa.us.
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