Unfortunately Yoko Ono wasn’t available stop the elm leaf beetles this year so Orange City Council has turned to insecticides.

The beetles defoliated many of the city’s elm trees – leaving skeletonisied leaves and endangering the the trees’ health.

Council has asked residents to not wrap street trees with duct tape to give the insecticides a chance to work.

“We’re using two different methods to control the elm beetles depending on the size and age of the tree; inserting tablets into the soil or making injections into the tree trunk,” council’s city presentation manager Nigel Hobden said.

“You might have noticed that bitumen has been removed around the base of some street trees over the last few months.

In younger, smaller street elms we’ve been digging several pesticide tablets into the ground around the roots of the trees.

“The tablets will dissolve over time, the tree roots will absorb the insecticide and carry it to the tree’s leaves. This week’s rain will help dissolve the tablets.”

Elm leaf beetles are expected to begin hatching as the weather warms up, they’ll travel to the top of the tree to eat the leaves and ingest the poison.

Mr Hobden said the tablets planted next to the tree wouldn’t impact the health of the tree or biodiversity in the soil.

Older trees will have the insecticide injected into the tree trunk.

“We’ll be injecting the older and larger trees with insecticides in the coming weeks as the trees start to bud,” Mr Hobden said.

“The sap will take the pesticides up the tree and into the leaves in a similar way to how the tablets work.

“For this reason, we’re asking the community not to place the adhesive tape around street trees at this time of the year.

“It’s important the beetles can reach the top of the tree to eat the leaves in order to ingest the insecticides.

“Residents can expect to see leaf damage again this year, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

Mr Hobden said residents could treat trees in their backyards, or could use duct tape which was an effective way to interrupt the beetles’ life cycle.

“It’s important residents seek advice from a qualified arborist to understand what treatment is best for each tree.”