A Holistic Approach for Controlling Hemlock Woolly Adelgids

Hemlock Woolly Adelgids (Adelges tsugae) are an invasive insect that is causing widespread death and decline of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service have recently published a guide which synthesizes best management practices for controlling this destructive pest. The guide outlines a strategy using insecticides in combination with adelgid-eating insects. 

New Manager’s Guide for Controlling Hemlock Woolly Adelgids

Hope for the hemlocks

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications

Mature hemlock killed by HWA.
Photo by Dave Jackson

An Eastern hemlock can live for 800 years, anchoring ecosystems from its roots to its branches. But a bug that’s a speck by the eye can kill these giants in just a few

Foresters, entomologists, silviculturists, physiologists, and other experts have been working together to keep hemlock trees alive and reduce the impact of this devastating insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid.

A recent guide synthesizes years of research to provide best practices for controlling hemlock woolly adelgids. The guide is titled Integrating Chemical and Biological Control of theHemlock Woolly Adelgid: A Resource Manager’s Guide.

“The goal of the strategy is to prolong the health of some hemlock trees with insecticides, while, on other trees, establishing adelgid-eating insects,” says Bud Mayfield, USDA Forest Service researcher and lead author of the guide.

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