How to control maple tree pests using integrated pest management

Many maple trees share a suite of important arthropod pests that have the potential to reduce the trees' economic and aesthetic value. Now a new open-access article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management offers maple tree owners information about the biology, damage, and management for the most important pests of maples with an emphasis on integrated pest management (IPM) tactics for each pest.

In the article, entitled "Biology, Injury, and Management of Maple Tree Pests in Nurseries and Urban Landscapes," the authors identify 81 potentially damaging arthropod pests and organize them by taxonomic order.

They then review what is known about the life histories, diagnostic features, the types of plant damage they inflict, management practices, and IPM tools for each pest.

Pests include ambrosia beetles, flatheaded appletree borers, maple shoot borers, potato leafhoppers, scale insects, eriophyid mites, and others.