South Dakota residents who purchased wreaths and other evergreen decorations from chain stores this holiday season are being encouraged to bag those items and dispose of them in a landfill.
The state Department of Agriculture reports the invasive insect elongate hemlock scale—EHS– was found on the eastern side of the state.
State forester Greg Josten says EHS was found in South Dakota on wreaths and other live holiday greenery, but not on Christmas trees. He says wreaths and other live evergreen decorations purchased from chain-stores should not be placed in compost piles or used as mulch. Josten says if these materials are infested, the eggs will still hatch this spring and the young insects will move to nearby spruces.
EHS is native to Asia and resembles small, light, yellow-brown bumps on the underside of needles, less than one-sixteenth of an inch long. It was introduced into New York from Asia around 1900 and has since spread to much of New England, west to Ohio and south to the Carolinas. The insect had not been found on conifers in South Dakota’s region until this recent discovery in the wreaths.
The principal host for EHS is the eastern hemlock, a rare tree in South Dakota. However, it also attacks spruce trees, which are a native tree to the Black Hills and among the most common evergreens in communities and windbreaks across the state.
