Common Bugs Found on Christmas Trees & How to Get Rid of Them

Common Christmas Tree Bugs

Metro Atlanta families love to purchase and decorate Christmas trees throughout the holiday season. Live Christmas trees keep the Christmas season bright and cheery with the beautiful green foliage and refreshing pine smell into the new year.

Often times, when you bring in a live Christmas tree, you’re also bringing in new bugs and pests into your home. See what types of bugs commonly live on Christmas trees and how to safely protect your tree and home this holiday season.

Common Bugs on Christmas Trees

If you’ve bought live Christmas trees before, you know there’s a chance that you’re bringing pests into your home. But what types of bugs are they? Are they dangerous to your family?

The most common bugs you’ll find are aphids, spiders, mites, sawflies or bark beetles. Many of those bugs are harmless to humans and pets, but can be found escaping into your home once indoors.

Apids are typically found on the lower boughs of a Christmas tree, be sure not to kill them on furniture because they can leave a dark stain. If you’ve noticed premature needles dropping or small red stains appearing, then you may have mites on your tree. Sawflies, spiders, and bark beetles usually are hitchhikers and will move on from the tree once it’s settled.

Protecting Your Tree

The best way to protect your tree and keep your house bug-free is to pre-treat your tree with insecticides. There are two main types of insecticides: diatomaceous earth or neem oil spray. Both treatments do not utilize synthetic chemicals and kill bugs in any stage of life.

Using a pre-treatment spray will allow you to loosen and remove any tag-a-long pests on your Christmas tree. Just apply the treatment spray or powder to the tree while outside and shake any access treatment off. This can be done before trimming your tree for complete coverage.

Getting Rid of Bugs in Your House

If you didn’t have a chance to pre-treat your Christmas tree and find critters in your home, there’s a few things you can do regularly to keep it clean:

  1. If you’ve noticed your tree has a few hitch-hiking pests, shake them off! Removing the pests and vacuuming them up can help you keep your home safe going forward.
  2. Keeping the area surrounding your Christmas tree clear is another solution to reducing the bugs in and around your Christmas tree.
  3. Spot tree your Christmas tree as needed. If you’re seeing bugs hatching on your tree, don’t hesitate to purchase diatomaceous earth or neem oil spray to spot treat heavily areas of infestation.

Pest Control Solutions in Metro Atlanta

Keeping your home pest free is always important – but especially during the holidays. Call Healthy Home Termite & Pest Control at 770-505-9040 for any questions you may have about keeping your home in top-shape. We serve all of Metro Atlanta and surrounding counties, reach out today to see if we can service your area.

Schedule an inspection with Healthy Home Pest Control to see how they can help you keep your home clean this year. Call us at 770-505-9040 or fill out our contact us form and we’ll reach out to you.