Warning: Japanese Maple Scale is an Urgent Threat to Our Area
In 2014 we identified a scale insect that had not been seen before in our area. With the help of the Department of Agriculture it was identified as Japanese Maple Scale. Since then the problem has become much, much worse. Trees are being imported from nurseries in other states that do not have rigorous inspection protocols. They are selling to our local garden centers and nurseries who are then planting this infected plant material in your yards!!! Many landscapers and garden centers are not aware of this problem and certainly don’t know to look for the scale or how to identify it. THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM! They are inadvertently spreading this infectious and damaging insect all over our state. JMS can infect a wide variety of plant material. It is called Japanese Maple Scale, but it does not just affect Japanese Maples! This little bug can and will infect over 45 genera of plants in 27 families including: maples, service berry, camellia, hawthorn, red bud, yellowwood, dogwoods, cotoneaster, euonymous, ash, locust, holly, sweetspires, privet, magnolia, crabapples, plum, pyracantha, pears, willow, stewartia, styrax, olives, lindens, elms, zelkova and many others. Scale insects can rapidly kill your trees and shrubs!
Since this insect is SO DIFFICULT to control, it is very important to apply Horticultural oil in the late winter – early spring to help knock down these populations, and suffocate any eggs. JMS has two generations per year and a crawler stage where babies are hatching out for as long as 6 weeks! The populations build up fast and are very small and hard to see. We have developed a control plan using sprays, systemics, and growth regulators to keep the problem under control, but it may take multiple seasons of close monitoring to knock a population out in one yard. As unknowing landscapers and nurseries continue to sell infected plant material, the problem is going to only get worse. Be on the lookout!
We were very pleased with the service and particularly the knowledge & professionalism of your staff. We would certainly recommend you.
We are very pleased with the plantings suggested by and picked out by Mike. The men arrived on time to plant the boxwood and witch hazel tree; dug out the stump and cleaned up. They were pleasant and helpful – we couldn’t have asked for a better team.
We were very pleased and impressed with Dan and his team. We love our new trees and garden.
Thank you so much for all the information you provide – the watering information, the emails and the flier. I read it all and have learned so much. My magnolia trees look surprisingly healthy considering the way they looked when I first called.
Kevin Seger provided expert advice and recommendations about tree maintenance and removal. He listened to my needs and provided a thorough and affordable proposal. On the day of the job, I was very impressed with crew leader, Dave and his team (Felix & Adam). They were professional, efficient, hard-working and very neat about clean-up.
An outstanding job on the four trees and clean-up after the work and removal. We would be happy to recommend your services to everyone – the best tree service we ever have had here in St. Louis.
Kevin was able to come out the same day I called and a crew was out the next day! Great prompt service. I was not at home when the work was done but results show they did a fine job.
Everyone came through as usual when I needed the crew to come back & take out the balance of the fire blight. They did not have a bucket the first time and were so nice and professional about coming back again.
Thank you again for responding to our urgent need after the storm took down our 2 trees & deposited them across our driveway. Your crew, as always, did a fabulous job. Professional, courteous & it is a pleasure doing business with your company.
We appreciate your knowledge and professionalism. Your employees are prompt and courteous and willing to do whatever needs to be done to complete the project. Cleanup was great.
