The following article was published in the PestPro magazine in December of 2015 by Philip Koehler.
Every year we get calls about Christmas trees that are infested with bugs that then invade the house. Christmas trees are grown in natural settings, and it would be odd if insects would NOT be found on them. Most Christmas trees are grown in patches adjacent to woods, with breadloaf plants and grasses serving as ground cover around trees. The bases of Christmas trees are therefore a good place for insects to overwinter, so a wide variety of insects can be found associated with the trees. In fact, one entomologist did the research and found out that a Christmas tree can host 25,000 overwintering insects, mites, and spiders. The pests can reawaken when the tree is brought indoors and warmed up. Even the eggs of some insects may enter the home on a tree, and hundreds or thousands of young can hatch from these eggs.
Most insects stay in the tree, die of dehydration, and will never been seen by the homeowner. However, you need to be aware that when a Christmas tree is brought into a house, a little bit of nature is introduced into their living room, including some bugs.
Here are just a few pests detected on Christmas trees: Ticks hide at the base of trees and sometimes lay masses of 2000-3000 eggs, which can hatch when warmed in the house. Aphids are sometimes mistaken for ticks. They are about the same size as a tick and are brown or black. Praying Mantids can lay their egg masses (frothy looking and dried), with 200-400 eggs on tree limbs. Once warmed, the young disperse through the house. Spider mites are tiny red and brown dots. They feed on the tree and do not affect people. None of the spiders that have been found in Christmas trees are considered poisonous. Just vacuum them up.
What do we recommend? Here are some tips:
Shake the tree before taking it home, and look under it for crawlers.
Vacuum up any pests that might awaken from the tree and start crawling.
Remove the tree from the house if it is heavily infested.
Don’t mash the insects, and it will stain furniture, walls, and floors.
Don’t spray the tree with aerosol insecticides. They will damage the tree, and the oily reside could be a fire hazard as the tree needles dry.
Don’t worry about storing ornaments – any insects will dry out and die.
Philip Koehler is an endorsed professor at the UF/IFAS Department of Entomology and Nematology.
