Rheine. The stinging hairs of caterpillars, which contain a nettle toxin, can have sometimes considerable health consequences for humans and animals. Contact with the almost invisible hairs triggers skin rashes, burning and itching. More rarely, more severe reactions such as respiratory irritation, conjunctivitis or fever occur.
To control the oak processionary moth, Technische Betriebe Rheine is therefore carrying out a biocide application again this year. This is expected to take place on May 2. Its purpose is to spray the caterpillars by spraying the treetops of selected oak trees located in public areas or along municipal roads.
The bacterial preparation called Foray ES, approved under biocide law for the purpose of human health protection, has a low duration of action of about 2-3 days. It acts as a feeding toxin on these butterfly caterpillars. The preparation used is not harmful to humans, other animals or plants. The preparation has been successfully used against EPS caterpillars in other regions of North Rhine-Westphalia and in Germany, as well as in the neighboring Netherlands, for example, for several years. The use and conditions of application in the Steinfurt district have already been coordinated with the lower nature conservation authority in recent years.
TBR has compiled a list of around 1,300 oak trees that are to be sprayed with the product once this spring at leaf emergence and during the first and second larval development phase of the EPS caterpillars. The biocide will be sprayed by trained employees of Technische Betriebe Rheine using a high-pressure turbine sprayer, also known as a spray gun. TBR will carry out the spray treatment of the oaks in question on 3-4 days, probably starting on Monday, 02 May 2022. Since spray treatment is highly weather dependent, there may be interruptions in the work schedule. The entire operation is scheduled to be completed no later than Wednesday, May 11, 2022.
The biocide treatment will be performed on oak trees that have regularly exhibited heavy EPS infestations in recent years and that are located on particularly vulnerable or sensitive urban/public areas. In addition to some schoolyards, playgrounds, and sensitive areas of municipal parks and green spaces, oaks infested with EPS on individual heavily trafficked inner-city streets and on some particularly vulnerable or impacted residential neighborhoods will also be treated with the Bt preparation.
The direct residents of streets and facilities where oaks are to be sprayed with the bacterial preparation will be informed in advance by a short letter about the upcoming work and asked not to stay outside during the direct work and to keep windows and doors closed. Direct contact with the spray mist should be avoided. The work areas will therefore also be secured in each case. If the work is carried out on oak trees in the road area, there will also be short-term closures and obstructions to road and bicycle traffic there. Relevant disruptions to road traffic are to be expected temporarily in the area of Sandkampstraße, Bergstraße and Brückenstraße in Elte. Access to areas of green spaces where oak trees are being sprayed will also be temporarily impossible. The Technische Betriebe ask for your understanding in this matter.