N.J. trees had it made in the shade
They escaped the ravages of disease and pests such as gypsy moths this summer.
WOODLAND PARK, N.J. - It was a good summer to be a tree in New Jersey.
The most ravenous devourer of leaves - the gypsy moth - seems to have lost its appetite.
Another pest - the Asian longhorned beetle - may have been wiped out.
And as the season for tree diseases comes to a close, arborists are relieved to report that an outbreak of a tree fungus in Eastern Pennsylvania failed to make its way across the Delaware River.
"I would say it was serendipity," Carl Schulze Jr., director of the state Department of Agriculture Division of Plant Industry, said. "We were very fortunate this year."
The greatest threat to trees in the Garden State traditionally was residential and commercial development. But over the last few decades, trees have been under attack from invasive pests and diseases. Tens of thousands of trees were damaged or killed every year.
But this summer, it appears the trees are winning the war against moths, beetles, fungi, and a weed that strangles trees.
In fact, the summer marked the least recorded defoliation by gypsy moths since 1970.
Spray programs in recent years appeared to have worked. In 2008, more than 340,000 acres were affected by gypsy moths, including areas in Bloomingdale, Pompton Lakes, Ringwood, Wanaque, and West Milford. This year, only 1,068 acres were infested - so few trees that officials didn't even use their insecticide. An aerial survey in July found no gypsy moth destruction in Bergen, Passaic, Morris, or Hudson Counties - a relief to local officials.
"They can destroy an entire tree pretty quickly," said Elaine Fogerty, the Passaic County agricultural assistant. "There are so many of them and they work so fast that you can actually hear their droppings fall to the ground while they're eating the leaves up there."
Schulze cautioned that healthy egg masses have been spotted this summer in forests and residential areas, which may be a sign of a comeback. "It's below the radar but it's not gone," he said.
In other good news for trees, a fungus that damaged trees in Eastern Pennsylvania didn't make it to New Jersey.
Thousand cankers disease has attacked walnut trees as close as Doylestown. The disease is carried by walnut twig beetles and starves the tree of nutrients, killing it within 10 years of infestation. A quarantine on all walnut material in the area is credited with containing the spread of the fungus.