Insects may be divided into three categories according to their method of feeding: chewing, sucking, and boring. Insects from each group have characteristic patterns of damage that will help determine the culprit and the proper treatment.

Chewing insects eat plant tissue such as leaves, flowers, buds, and twigs. The damage by these insects is often seen by uneven or broken margins on the leaves, skeletonization of the leaves, and leaf mining. Chewing insects can be beetle adults or larvae, moth larvae (caterpillars), and many other groups of insects. The damage they cause (leaf notching, leaf mining, leaf skeletonizing, etc.) will help in identifying the pest insect.

Sucking insects insert their beak (proboscis) into the tissues of leaves, twigs, branches, flowers, or fruit and then feed on the plant’s juices. Some examples of sucking insects are aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and leafhoppers. Damage caused by these pests is often indicated by discoloration, drooping, wilting, leaf spots (stippling), honeydew, or general lack of vigor in the affected plant.

Boring insects are a very common problem that can go unnoticed. Often the issue is unnoticed until the damage is extensive. Early diagnosis and annual inspects can reveal these problems and in most cases, stop the damage. All pests in this category spend time feeding somewhere beneath the bark of a tree as larvae. Some borers kill twigs and leaders when adults feed or when eggs hatch into larvae that bore into the stem and develop into adults. Other borers, known as bark beetles, mate at or near the bark surface, and adults lay eggs in tunnels beneath the bark.

Some of the common insects we see infesting trees include: Emerald Ash Borer, Oak Bark Beetle, Pine Bark Beetle, Wooly Adelgid, Aphid, Bag Worms, Spruce Borer, Dogwood Borer.