Updated: 3/28/05
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APHIS
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News
Slow-the-Spread Program
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The Slow the Spread Program is a national strategy funded by the USDA (Forest Service and APHIS) and State cooperators that lie along the leading population edge. The purpose of STS is to reduce the overall rate at which the gypsy moth spreads into uninfested areas.
Ohio, which is located along this leading edge, implements STS by deploying pheromone traps (delta and milk carton) to monitor movement; evaluate, detect or delineate newly established colonies and then conducts treatments to slow the spread. Approximately 13,390 traps were set in Ohio in 2007, in front and along the leading population edge.
Trap catches above a certain threshold triggers more intensive trapping the following year to help delineate the location and extent of infestation. In the third year, some measure of control is taken.
Treatment options include:
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Mating disruption (pheromone flakes) - A synthetic female pheromone, specific to gypsy moth, impregnated on a plastic flake. When disbursed in the tree canopy, it disrupts the male moths ability to locate the flightless female and mate.
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Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki) - A bacterium found in soils across the world and in Ohio, which when formulated as an insecticide acts as a stomach poison.
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Diflubenzuron - An insect growth regulator insecticide that works by preventing the formation of chitin, whish is an important structural component of the external skeleton of the gypsy moth larvae.
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Gypchek (Nucleopolyhedrosis virus) - The virus is one of several naturally occurring infectious microorganisms that control specifically gypsy moth.
In 2007, approximately 171,420 acres were treated in Ohio under the STS Program.
More information about the national Slow the Spread Project can be obtained at: www.gmsts.org.