Poplar Bud Gall Mites in Teton Valley

This fall we had a big job lined up in Felt, ID just outside of Tetonia in Teton Valley. A huge row of 25+ mature poplar trees, nearly all infected with poplar bud gall mite (Eriophyes parapopuli). They are brown, cauliflower- looking masses that were all over the tree branches.

These tree branches in Teton Valley, Idaho, exhibit distinctive deformations caused by a gall mite infestation, highlighting the impact of these tiny pests on local vegetation.

Hosts for this pest can include poplars, cottonwoods, as well as aspens. We did our best using a lift to access the worst parts of the infestation to remove as many galls as we could with the two days the client wanted to start with. This will be an ongoing mitigation for this property. Going forward, we would recommend coming back in the early spring, when the mites over-winter inside the galls while the trees are still dormant and removing more infected branches.

With these particular trees, removing every single gall is not entirely realistic when there are hundreds on a single branch. We would also take a more holistic look to this situation, where doing a spray treatment would be beneficial.

This property also has a large stand of Blue Spruce near these poplars. My recommendation to this property owner becomes, save the trees that are doing well, give the spruce room to rise up and be the dominant species for the wind break, and thin out the diseased poplars, giving the remaining ones the best chance to recover from this infestation that has been ongoing for 15 years!

Lift Access to the large poplar trees in Felt, ID