Now accepting new clients for the season. Request your consultation today.
Now accepting new clients for the season. Request your consultation today.
MW Lawn & Landscape protects your ornamental trees and shrubs from the insects that damage them across Olathe, Overland Park, Lenexa, and Johnson County aphids, scale, mites, lace bugs, bagworms, Japanese beetles, and more. We match the method to the pest, using systemic treatments for season-long protection against sucking insects and targeted sprays for active infestations. Licensed applicators, 25+ years local.
We’ll respond within 24 hours
You can buy a bottle of tree-and-shrub insect killer at any hardware store. What you can’t buy is knowing which pest you have, which method actually controls it, and when to apply so it works and that’s where most DIY treatments fail. Insects that attack trees and shrubs fall into two broad camps, and they’re controlled differently. Sucking pests aphids, scale, mites, lace bugs, adelgids quietly drain the plant and are best stopped with a systemic treatment that moves up through the plant’s own vascular system and protects it from the inside for the whole season. Chewing pests bagworms, Japanese beetles, webworms do visible, fast damage and often need a targeted spray timed to the exact window when they’re vulnerable.
We identify what’s actually feeding on your plants, choose systemic or foliar treatment accordingly, and time it to the pest because a bagworm treatment in the wrong month does almost nothing, and a systemic put down too late misses the season. We also treat responsibly: systemic products can affect pollinators, so we avoid treating flowering, bee-attractive plants while they’re in bloom. It’s all part of our full tree and shrub program, but we’re glad to treat a specific problem on its own too.
Systemic for sucking insects, targeted spray for chewing ones. Getting this right is the difference between control and wasted product.
A systemic treatment moves through the plant and protects it from the inside for the whole season one application, lasting coverage against aphids, scale, and mites
Many pests have a narrow treatment window. Bagworms are easy to control when small and nearly impossible once mature timing is everything, and we know it.
We use the right amount of the right product, and we protect pollinators by not treating bee-attractive plants while they’re in bloom.
Diagnosis, the right method, and the right timing the three things a store-bought bottle can’t give you.
We identify exactly what’s feeding on your trees and shrubs sucking or chewing, which species because the pest determines the treatment.
Soil-applied systemic control that travels up through the plant for season-long protection against aphids, scale, mites, lace bugs, and other sucking pests.
Direct treatment for active infestations and chewing pests like bagworms, Japanese beetles, and webworms for fast knockdown when it’s needed.
We treat in each pest’s vulnerable window the difference between control and watching the damage continue.
An early-season oil application that smothers overwintering mites, scale, and eggs before they become this year’s problem.
We protect bees and other pollinators by timing and placing treatments to avoid flowering plants in bloom.
The tree and shrub pest problems Johnson County homeowners bring us and how we handle each.
25+ years matching the right treatment to the right pest at the right time the part DIY can’t get right.
Sucking or chewing, scale or mite, bagworm or beetle the pest decides the method. We diagnose first so the treatment actually works.
We know the pests that hit Johnson County trees and shrubs, their timing, and how to control each one.
Kansas-licensed applicators using professional systemic and foliar products at label rates and applied responsibly around pollinators.
Trees, shrubs, and the lawn beneath them one local team that already knows your property and its history.
Three steps to plants the bugs leave alone.
Fill out the form or call 9138294949 . Tell us what you’re seeing and we’ll come identify the pest..
We confirm the insect, choose systemic or foliar treatment, and apply it in the pest’s vulnerable window.
Systemic treatments protect from the inside all season, and we watch for new threats as part of your program.
What homeowners in Olathe and Johnson County ask us about controlling tree and shrub pests.
Still Have Questions? Call our team or submit a quote request we’re happy to answer anything before you book
It’s the difference between protecting a plant from the inside and treating it from the outside. A systemic treatment is applied to the soil and taken up through the roots, so the insecticide travels up inside the plant’s own tissue any sucking insect that feeds on it gets a dose, and one application can protect the plant for the whole season. It’s ideal for aphids, scale, mites, and lace bugs. A foliar spray coats the outside of the plant for fast knockdown of chewing pests and active infestations, but it doesn’t last as long. We choose based on the pest and sometimes use both.
It depends on the method. A systemic soil treatment often provides season-long protection from a single application, because it keeps working inside the plant as long as the insecticide is present in the tissue. Foliar sprays are shorter-lived they knock down what’s there but break down over a few weeks and don’t protect new growth. One thing worth knowing about systemics: applied to the soil, they take time to move up into the plant, sometimes several weeks, so they work best applied ahead of a known pest problem rather than in a crisis.
Timing is tied to the pest, which is exactly why a knowledgeable applicator matters. Dormant oil goes on in early spring to smother overwintering mites and scale before they get going. Systemic treatments for sucking pests are best applied early, ahead of the season, so they’re in place when feeding starts. And some chewing pests have very tight windows bagworms, for example, are easy to control for a few weeks after they hatch and very hard to control once they’ve matured. Miss the window and you’re usually waiting until next year.
Bagworms are one of the most destructive pests on Kansas evergreens they can defoliate and kill a juniper or spruce and timing is everything. The effective window is late spring into early summer, after the eggs hatch and while the larvae are small and actively feeding; a well-timed treatment then gives excellent control. Once the caterpillars mature and seal themselves in their bags to pupate, sprays barely touch them, and the females inside are laying next year’s eggs. If you’re seeing bags now, we’ll tell you honestly whether it’s a treat-now situation or a plan-for-next-spring one.
Used responsibly, yes and ‘responsibly’ is the key word. The main pollinator concern is with systemic products on flowering plants, since the insecticide can end up in nectar and pollen, so we avoid treating bee-attractive plants while they’re in bloom and time applications to protect pollinators. For pets, treated areas are generally safe once products have dried or been watered in per the label. We apply at label rates by licensed applicators, which is a big part of using these products safely.
For plants you care about, usually yes not because the professional bottle is magic, but because the results come from diagnosis and timing more than the product. The most common reasons a store-bought treatment fails are treating the wrong pest, using the wrong method, or applying at the wrong time, and a homeowner has no easy way to know any of those. We identify the pest, pick systemic or foliar accordingly, and treat in the window that actually works which is what turns ‘I sprayed and it came back’ into control.
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Insect control is one part of keeping trees and shrubs healthy. Here are the specific treatments and the full program
The destructive evergreen pest with a narrow treatment window controlled while small, nearly impossible once mature Learn More →
The beetles that skeletonize leaves in summer the adult stage of the same insect behind your lawn grubs. Learn More →
The borer that has killed ash across the KC metro treatable if caught before the infestation is advanced. Learn More →
The right treatment, matched to the pest and timed to its life cycle that’s what a store-bought bottle can’t do. Let MW Lawn & Landscape protect your trees and shrubs, responsibly and effectively. Free quote, no pressure.