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TOWN OF HUNTINGTON While taking a walk down neighboring streets, Melville resident Ronnie Slopa noticed something different about the normally-picturesque trees lining the sidewalks. The bark was peeling off trees, the leaves drying up, and it was only the beginning of summertime - when trees should be bursting with life and green leaves. What Slopa noticed wasn't the results of heat, however. It was cottony maple scale, an insect, otherwise known as homoptera, which forms a white cottony tissue on the underside of leaves in order to extract nutrients. This summer, the numbers of cottony maple scale and other forms of the scale insect have exploded within the Town of Huntington, said Michael Sneden, an arborist representative and local manager at Bartlett Tree Experts. "Last year I noticed the trees were a little different," Slopa said, "but I never bothered to look up. I actually read something about scale, then noticed it, and put two and two together. It might have even started last year, but it never hit home until the beginning of summer when everything got bad." She began noticing the change on Quintree Lane, off of Old Country Lane in Dix Hills. "Bark is peeling, limbs are falling, the small limbs, and without the breeze," she said. "If you look up at the trees, you see branches and they're dying." Michael Sneden, an arborist representative and local manager at Bartlett Tree Experts, said that with some trees, such as a normal street tree such as sycamores, peeling bark is natural. But, he said, scale does attack different types of trees aside from maple, including dogwood and magnolias. That's why Slopa's backyard tree didn't make it past this summer. "About four years ago, I started growing a maple tree from a seedling," Slopa said. "It flourished every year, and this year the scale attacked it and the tree died." The problem usually starts in the spring, though, especially if it's a wet season. If not caught in time, there's nothing that can be done during the summer months, local arborists said. "In the spring, you can spray dormant oil that'll suffocate this. That's when you see sap and residue that's clear or a darkish substance. It's residue from their excretions," said William Dietz, the urban forester for the town. "The damage that was done from the insect is finished." Signs that a tree has been invaded by scale are a discoloration of the leaf and branch, such as it yellowing, and spots, along with the white cottony bumps underneath the leaves, also known as egg sacks. "They come from the adult," Dietz said. "The scale insect is an adult insect. They lay their eggs and it comes out a nymph, and that's what feeds on the leaves itself." Ways to prevent scale include a dormant oil or soap that is used in the spring, before the insect goes into its crawler stage, to suffocate the egg mass. People may spray in the fall, however, to be cautious and seal off egg masses. Garden centers have these substances. Alternatively, International Society Arboriculture (ISA) certified applicators can be hired to professionally apply it to the trees. The town does not spray for liability reasons. "It's not that bad of a problem," Dietz said. "It will not kill the trees." But Slopa feels that it's an awful sight. "If you're looking at these trees, it's very sad, it's truly very sad," she said. "They look horrible and they look sick." Because the problem is located all over Huntington, let alone Long Island, she's concerned the issue will only worsen. "I'm sure if it doesn't get stopped now, the trees are going to be greatly affected," she said. "It's not only right here; most of Huntington has been affected. Even in South Huntington. If they're not going to address it quickly, it's going to be so widespread, they won't be able to address it." For more information on contacting a local ISA certified arborist, to learn more about tree health and how to identify scale-infected plants, go to www.isa-arbor.com.
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