Scale crawlers are emerging, bagworm is at last call, and Virginia expands its SLF quarantine — your region-by-region windows for Aug 10–17.

Pest on the Chart · This Week

Bagworm

Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis

This week's pest on the chart, because the clock just ran out. Bagworm larvae hatched back in June (~600 GDD) and have been dragging their spindle-shaped silk bags across arborvitae, juniper, spruce, and dozens of hardwoods all summer. By mid-August the caterpillars are large, the bags are 1–2 inches, and feeding is wrapping up — which means insecticide efficacy is collapsing. Evergreens hit hard now may not recover, so this is the week to make the call: treat immediately where feeding is still active, or switch to hand removal.

Conditions: Accumulation advancing from the July UMass base (~1,094 on July 8, base 50°F). Drought remains severe on the Cape with scorch and premature leaf drop widespread. Laurel wilt (Suffolk Co.) and oak wilt (Finger Lakes) quarantines stand.

•	Magnolia scale crawlers emerging now — the treatment window is open; cottony camellia & lecanium behind them.

•	Bagworm at last call on arborvitae and juniper; fall webworm nests large and obvious.

•	Spotted lanternfly adults at peak on tree-of-heaven and grape; egg-laying begins next month.

•	Laurel wilt — keep scouting sassafras and spicebush on Long Island; report suspect trees.

•	Spider mites on dusty, drought-stressed canopies; drought & bacterial leaf scorch both browning crowns.

•	Scale crawlers: treat at first crawler with horticultural oil (repeat per label) or an IGR (pyriproxyfen / buprofezin); tape-trap to confirm timing.

•	Bagworm: chlorantraniliprole / spinosad only while feeding continues; otherwise handpick bags through spring.

•	Laurel wilt / oak wilt: don't move host wood or firewood; hold oak pruning into September; report new finds.

•	Drought: deep-water high-value trees; confirm scorch by lab before committing to a plan.

Conditions: Warm and humid with high foliar-disease pressure. SLF is at its August peak — Virginia's quarantine now covers 12 counties and 10 cities, and central Maryland remains the state's most infested zone. Box tree moth quarantine active in four western MD counties.

•	Spotted lanternfly adults at peak on woody trees and trap trees; honeydew, sooty mold, and yellowjackets.

•	Magnolia scale crawlers emerging; crapemyrtle bark scale + aphid sooty mold.

•	Bagworm at last call; orangestriped oakworm & yellownecked caterpillars defoliating.

•	Elm zigzag sawfly on elms; box tree moth on boxwood in the quarantine zone.

•	Bacterial leaf scorch strong on oaks, elms, and sycamore.

•	Spotted lanternfly: keep trap trees treated through the August feeding surge; plan September egg-mass scouting routes; report new counties.

•	Scale crawlers: horticultural oil + IGR at first crawler on magnolia; IGR at crawlers for CMBS.

•	Bagworm: chlorantraniliprole / spinosad now or handpick; mark plants for a June Btk program.

•	Box tree moth / elm zigzag sawfly: monitor, treat active BTM larvae with Btk / spinosad, and report finds.

•	Bacterial leaf scorch: confirm by lab; support vigor; consider oxytetracycline injection for high-value trees.

Conditions: Hot and humid; the season's furthest along. Late-summer caterpillars are at full defoliation strength, and laurel wilt keeps advancing (NC at 21 positive counties).

•	Orangestriped oakworm defoliating pin and willow oaks (heavy frass); greenstriped mapleworm, yellownecked & azalea caterpillars active.

•	Crapemyrtle bark scale + crape myrtle aphid driving sooty mold; fall webworm second-generation nests large.

•	Laurel wilt advancing — scout redbay, sassafras, and bay; southern pine beetle on stressed pines.

•	Oak & azalea lace bugs; southern red spider mite in the heat.

•	Cercospora leaf spot & powdery mildew on crape myrtle.

•	Caterpillars: tolerate on large trees; handpick oakworm clusters; prune webworm nests or Btk on young larvae.

•	Crapemyrtle bark scale: IGR at crawlers, dormant hort oil later; systemic imidacloprid / dinotefuran timed to avoid bloom; wash sooty mold.

•	Laurel wilt / borers: don't move host wood or firewood; reduce stress; report suspect laurel-family trees.

•	Lace bugs: hort oil / insecticidal soap on nymph undersides.

•	Crape myrtle disease: resistant cultivars, airflow, labeled myclobutanil / propiconazole.

Conditions: Running ~2 weeks ahead. Magnolia scale crawlers are emerging; Japanese beetle has tapered. Oak wilt risk continues while oaks remain unprunable; dry pockets keep spider mites active.

•	Magnolia scale crawlers emerging — the window is open now.

•	Bagworm at last call in the southern Midwest; fall webworm nests large.

•	Walnut & yellownecked caterpillars defoliating; spider mites in dry pockets.

•	Emerald ash borer larvae tunneling as flight winds down; elm zigzag sawfly spreading on elms.

•	Oak wilt risk continues — no oak pruning yet.

•	Magnolia scale: treat at first crawler — horticultural oil (repeat per label) or IGR; hose honeydew.

•	Bagworm: chlorantraniliprole / spinosad only while feeding; otherwise handpick through spring.

•	Oak wilt: keep holding oak pruning; paint unavoidable wounds; don't move oak wood.

•	EAB: systemic trunk injection (emamectin benzoate) for high-value ash on cycle.

•	Caterpillars: tolerate on large trees; prune webworm nests; Btk on young larvae only.

Conditions: Wide range by elevation and coast vs. inland; irrigation-driven stress is the key variable and fire season remains in full swing across the interior West.

•	Wood-boring beetles on stressed trees — invasive shothole borers in SoCal, goldspotted oak borer on oaks, Mediterranean oak borer.

•	Emerald ash borer in Oregon — five Willamette Valley counties remain under quarantine (Washington, Yamhill, Marion, Clackamas, Multnomah).

•	Spider mites at peak in heat and road dust; aphids with honeydew and sooty mold.

•	Bacterial blast / canker on stone fruit and citrus; yellowjackets at their late-summer worst.

•	Borers: deep-water summer-rainfall-adapted trees, avoid fresh wounds, and do not move ash material or firewood; in EAB zones, inventory ash and consider systemic protection, then report.

•	Spider mites: rinse dust, use hort oil or a selective miticide only if damaging; protect predators.

•	Aphids: strong water spray, conserve natural enemies, tolerate on established plants.

•	Stone-fruit canker/blight: prune out in dry weather, cutting several inches into healthy wood.

•	Fire: maintain defensible space and thin fuel ladders around trees and structures.