LSM Tree Advice & Consulting

Shot holes about a millimetre across in an elm leaf are the first sign. The adults make those and lay their eggs, then the larvae skeletonise the leaf between the veins, the canopy dries off and the tree loses its ability to photosynthesise for the three months the feeding lasts. In Adelaide the larvae hatch at the beginning of September, and the damage is most obvious from October to December once the new foliage is out. Elm leaf beetle goes after every species of elm, and dealing with it is one of the three things LSM Tree Advice & Consulting does.

Lawrence runs it. He spent many years working as a climbing arborist in the U.K. and in Australia before that experience led him into the corporate world of public liability, where he spent seven years looking after local government clients and large commercial companies on a national level. He wanted to get back outside eventually, so he went back to physical tree work for a while and then took a Diploma in Arboriculture here in South Australia. The advice you get comes from someone who has been up the tree and has also sat on the side of the desk where somebody has to answer for what a tree did.

For elms we use stem injections, which put a systemic insecticide into the tree to target and eliminate the larvae, and one treatment stays effective for two years. It goes in during September and October, so the call to make is the one ahead of September rather than after the leaves have gone. Pricing is worked off the tree's diameter at breast height, taking in its age and vitality and whether it carries multiple stems, and there is better pricing when there is a row of them to do rather than one.

Where a tree is simply showing signs of stress and nobody is sure why, our pest and disease help starts with the signs and symptoms actually on display, sorts out the primary and secondary agents behind the problem, and then sets a management approach, which may run to biological solutions or an integrated pest management strategy. Environmental factors get weighed up in that too, because they are often the thing underneath the pest.

The third piece is written work. If you have a specimen tree you care about and a contractor about to prune it, we write a pruning specification in line with Australian Standard 4373-2007, setting out exactly what is to be done so the growth habit of the tree is retained. A copy of the requirements goes to contractors during the quoting process, so everyone is pricing the same job and the instructions are in writing rather than in someone's memory.

We are based in Adelaide, South Australia. Send through a few photos of the tree and we can give you an approximate quote from those, or ring Lawrence on 0405 024040 and talk it through. If it is an elm, get in touch before September and we can have it treated in the right window.