Originally Published In The Deseret News -- Wednesday, July 14, 1993
Aphids slime the city. The mayor goes before TV cameras to plead for calm. Voracious ladybugs and lacewings devour the aphids and save the city.
No, it's not the scenario of a B-grade creature-feature at the drive-in, it's real-life drama in Salt Lake City.
Aphids really have attacked the metropolitan forest, as they do every year at this time, oozing a sticky substance over thousands of littleleaf linden and Norway maple trees.
The goop drips down on vehicles, where it hardens like dried molasses, and on sidewalks, where its glue-like consistency grips small animals and children.
It's so bad this year that Mayor Deedee Corradini held a press conference on a downtown street Tuesday to assuage the growing public concern. Her office has been fielding 100 calls a day from residents worried about their trees and cars.
"Yes, we are having a serious infestation of aphids, but the life of the trees are not in danger," she said. "The good news is that the ladybugs and other predators are taking care of the situation."
Her message to the public: "Don't worry about it."
According to Larry Sagers of the Utah State University Extension Service, the aphids' sticky secretion is more of a nuisance than a hazard to the trees. To prove it's not dangerous, he licked some off a leaf, noting, "See, it tastes like sugar."
The biggest threat is to car paint, he said, suggesting that people simply park somewhere other than under the affected trees until the dripping stops in a few weeks.
Urban forester Bill Rutherford told reporters that many callers have asked the city to spray their trees, but he said spraying would make matters worse. Insecticide would kill the good bugs as well as the bad, he explained.
The city did apply a dormant oil to threatened trees earlier this spring and will leave the mop-up to the ladybugs and lacewings, Rutherford said.
However, citizens who insist on ridding their trees of the aphid ooze may hire a licensed, bonded private pest control contractor at their own expense, Rutherford said.
"As far as we're concerned, the beneficial insects are doing the job," Rutherford said. "In the long run, the best solution is to do nothing."
© 1998 Deseret News Publishing Co.