City of Regina planning to spray more than 4,500 trees for cankerworms

The City of Regina’s cankerworm spraying program begins later thins month in an effort to protect the city’s trees from the pests.

The city said more than 4,500 trees are set to be sprayed this year in areas with high insect counts and where trees are at the greatest risk of damage, based on assessments completed this spring and last fall. The spraying program begins on May 26.

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“Crews will use BTK, an organic product approved by Health Canada,” the City of Regina said in a statement.

“This treatment effectively kills cankerworms but is harmless to pets, wildlife and humans.”

Residents in the areas where the spray will be applied will receive a printed notification 72 hours in advance.

While spraying is happening, the city advised residents to keep family members and pets away from the city crews, keep windows and doors closed, and move cars off the street wherever possible.

“The cankerworm spray program protects our trees and ensures that residents can continue to enjoy a healthy urban forest for years to come,” the city said.

Last summer, entomologist Sydney Worthy warned that cankerworm populations will likely be high for at least another year.

“After a long period of low population number or dormancy, they kind of just more or less explode into this population boom,” Worthy explained.

Cankerworms are primarily found on elm trees and can often be seen hanging from silk threads underneath infested trees. Worthy explained that we will see changes in the trees as the worms try to keep themselves alive.

“The worms will compete heavily for (those) elm resources, and they will defoliate a tree trying to do that. At the same time, there is going to be a lot that can’t get any food, and those ones will die off, (and) that’s when we start to see the cycle repeat itself.”