Office Phone
972-317-9598
Pines in Decline?
Calls are coming into Tree Shepherds regarding Pines that are losing limbs and large portions of their crowns with some Pine tree death occurring.
Tag Insects
How to Control Sooty Mold on Crape Myrtles
What Causes the Sooty Mold to Develop? The sooty mold on your crape myrtles is caused by a sap-feeding insect, known as Crape Myrtle Bark Scale (CMBS). The insect’s excrement, known as honeydew, is sugary. Eventually, the sugary honeydew becomes moldy,…
What are those strange growths on tree leaves?
Leaf galls and wasps The strange growths on the back of the leaves, such as those picture below, are known as leaf galls. Galls are formed when a wasp lays an egg. Along with the egg(s), the wasp secrets a…
Fall Webworms – They’re Back in Town
The Fall webworm is a moth that infests Pecans and other hardwood trees and creates unsightly webbing tents on the ends of limbs in the late summer. What you see is the caterpillar life stage of the moth. The caterpillars…
All About Bagworms
Bagworms are tiny little caterpillars that turn into moths. They feed on trees such as Junipers, red cedar's, arborvitae, Leyland Cypress, and other evergreen type trees.
Emerald Ash Borer and Your Ash Trees
You may have heard on the news that the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is now in North Texas. Some of these reports will sound alarmist and are designed to generate fear and sell some services. While the report is true,…
What’s That Sticky Stuff Coming From My Trees?
Honeydew is a sticky, sugary liquid that is insect waste. Insects called aphids (and some scale species) suck on plant sap and secrete a liquid we all know as honeydew. For the most part, an infestation of these messy insects…
What Has Happened to My Hackberry Trees?
The unusual weather this year has set up conditions for a very obscure moth to come out of obscurity and defoliate many of the hackberry trees in southern Denton County. The moth larvae is a small green caterpillar about 1/2…
Little Round Bugs Invading My Patio and House!
This is not necessarily tree related, but it is something I haven’t seen before at our yard and house in Highland Village, Texas. Over the past few days, thousands of small round insects are covering the back patio and coming…
Brown Bumps On My Oak Twigs?
What are those little brown humps that cover my oak twigs? These are lecanium scale insects. The lecanium scale can be debilitating to the host plant, rarely killing it. The insect draws sap from the tree, thus reducing the tree’s…