SPECIALTY SPRAYS SERVICE

Our Specialty Sprays Service deals with seasonal pests which invade an area and cause damage to trees and shrubs.

Every now and then, a specific species of bugs will infest local trees and shrubs. Olson's Pest Control Ltd is constantly keeping up with new ways to deal with new threats and we employ the best recommended methods to get rid of a particular strain.

Recent such issues were encountered with the Spotted Wing Drosophila which was discovered in the Okanagan in 2009. Olson's followed the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture monitoring and management rcommendations for commercial tree fruit and grapes in the Interior of BC in order to deal with the problem. Spotted wing drosophila were attacking thin-skinned fruit including cherry, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, peach, plum, nectarine and grapes.

The mountain pine beetle's outbreak started in British Columbia in the early 1990's. The insect has since killed about 50% of the total volume of commercial lodgepole pine in the province. Not just limiting itself to lodgepole pine any longer, the beetle is also reproducing in jack pine, the dominant pine species of BC forests.

In 2016, a type of stink bugs called the brown marmorated stink bug was causing concern, especially for farmers. Although most stink bugs confine themselves to one or two plants, the brown marmorated stink bug has more than 100 hosts. They eat apples, peaches, even grapes.Like other stink bugs, this species releases noxious chemicals when threatened, but in addition, they also badly damage the fruit as they feed.