Strong winds over the last week are to blame for a delay in the City of Regina’s forest tent caterpillar spray program.
The city’s manager of forestry, pest control and horticulture, Russell Eirich, said weather conditions have had an impact on their efforts.
“We have been wind delayed. The weather has been pretty frustrating from our point of view,” Eirich said.
“We had that 90 kilometre an hour winds on Wednesday and the winds have been above 30 kilometres and up until Monday afternoon, so we‘ve been fighting it with wind.”
As of Tuesday, the city had sprayed about 4,700 trees so far. It’s half their target of 10,000 trees.
Highly concentrated areas of tent caterpillars are the focus.
On Tuesday, Eirich said crews were focusing on the Wood Meadows and Gardiner Park neighbourhoods. The Wascana View neighbourhood was also on the list.
The city recommends residents use an organic spray if they want to treat the caterpillars themselves. Eirich said an insecticide called BTK is effective and organic.
“BTK is a bacterium, the insects will eat the poison on the leaves, they get the bacterium and they stop feeding and they die,” he said.
Tent caterpillars are defoliating insects that feed on the leaves of trees. With enough cycles, the leaves will no longer grow back – a highly concerning problem, Eirich said.
The city has received 230 resident complaints of tent caterpillars so far.
A complete map of where the city intends to spray can be found on their City of Regina website.