It's only the start of the year and there seems to be no end of media calls or calls from concerned whomevers after seeing he media calls. It's actually kind of driving me nuts. The thing is, the trees that people are concered about are Ficus trees, you know, figs. The problem is, these trees are actually invasive and can be pests. On the flip side, these trees have been used heavily in the landscape— along roads, in parks, in school yards— and as a result they also pose a hazard. What also doesn't help is the problems aren't really with the Lobate Lac Scale, it's with an insect new to science, a wasp that forms galls near the terminal end of the branch. This impacts the trees ability to move fluid back and forth and the plant slowly begins to starve. To highlight the resourcefulness of some Ficus, sometimes called banyans, they will actually send short branches and stems from all over their trunks or major branches. Quite funky really. The biggest problem, however, is the sheer lack of solutions!
