Spruce Budworm Treatment Concludes and Research Begins for 2017

Another year of experimental treatments for the Early Intervention Strategy (EIS) have come to pass. The 2017 treatments began on June 13th, when the spruce budworm larvae were entering their mid instar developmental stage. This timing is important as the insecticides we use must be eaten by the larvae to have an affect. This year our experimental treatment area covered 150 000 ha.

It is difficult to predict how long it takes to complete any treatment project but its dependant on the number of aircraft and the weather conditions encountered during the targeted instar development  – in general, a combination of good visibility, low winds, and low chance of precipitation are sought. This year the project completed the treatments on June 30th using up to 25 aircraft. To find out more about the treatments used in spruce budworm EIS research click here .

Our research work will now switch to looking at how effective this year’s Early Intervention Strategy was at slowing the spread of the budworm.