Invasive pests could be hiding out inside your Christmas tree.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is asking residents to check their trees for signs of bugs that could wreak havoc on the state’s $45 million dollar Christmas tree industry.
Nonnative critters like balsam woolly adelgid or spongy moth can ruin Michigan forests by weakening trees, so they lose leaves or branches and eventually die.
Balsam woolly adelgid is a sap-feeding bug from Europe. The critter appears as white, cottony tufts on the base of fir tree trunks.
It attacks true firs, including Christmas trees, which could hurt the industry and mow down the nearly two billion firs in Michigan forests, according to the state’s Invasive Species Program.
Invasive Species Coordinator Lindsay Patrick said there’s no way to save trees infected with the bug.
“Infested trees have to be removed, have to be killed, cut down or treated with herbicide,” Patrick said. “We don’t have any way of curing BWA on the trees.”
In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 95% of Fraser firs have been killed by the insect.
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Signs of balsam woolly adelgid include white tufts on the trunk, swollen twigs, brick-red branches and narrow tree crowns.
There have already been infestations reported in Kent, Missaukee and Oceana counties during the last two years.
Spongy moth caterpillars, an invasive species established across the state, can be identified by ten blue and twelve red spots down their back.
At the peak of the spongy moth invasion in 2021, more than 1.3 million trees were defoliated -- meaning bugs eat all the leaves, hurting its ability to make food and leaving it vulnerable to other pests and disease.
That number was closer to 170,000 acres last year.
While spongy moths mostly feed on oak and aspen, they eat hundreds of other plants.
Amber Niels, the Quarantine Compliance and Export Specialist at the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said moving plant material, like firewood and Christmas trees, is how a lot of invasive pests like spongy moth spread.
“Trying to get things as local as possible is a good way to avoid moving those pests,” Niels said.
You’re asked to take photos of any suspicion, note its location and report to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at MDA-Info@Michigan.gov.
You can also use the use the Midwest Invasive Species Information Network tool.
