DATCP December 2021 Nursery and Christmas Tree Program Update

Renewing Your Nursery License on Time Avoids Late Fees

Anyone with a current nursery grower, nursery dealer, and/or Christmas tree grower license expiring on February 20, 2022, should have received a paper expiration notice and renewal form in the mail. You can avoid paying the 20% late fee (or $5, whichever is GREATER) on each license by renewing before the deadline. We thank licensees who have already renewed, as it helps us plan our workload for the coming year and avoid potential processing delays caused by an influx of applications near the deadline. 

You can easily renew online using the MyDATCP portal. If you have used MyDATCP in the past, your login email is included on the paper expiration notice. A short video tutorial is available if you need a refresher on how to use MyDATCP. If you have not yet registered for a MyDATCP account you will see a PIN on your expiration notice.  Once registered, you will be able to access all of your licensing information to renew and pay online.

Tips and Reminders:

• Allow pop-ups from MyDATCP.
• Only one tab of MyDATCP can be open at a time.
• When renewing your license, be sure to update the sources of your stock, location(s) of growing fields and/or retail space(s), and contact information for your license.
• If mailing a payment: our bank lockbox has changed. Be sure to update your accounting system to send your payment to: State of Wisconsin WDATCP, Box 93598, Milwaukee, WI 53293-0598.
• If you have multiple license types: they each need to be renewed individually. However, you can pay for them all at once by accessing your invoices from the My Invoices tab of MyDATCP.
• Watch the short video tutorial to walk you through the online renewal process.
• Contact us to cancel or inactivate any license(s) you do not plan to renew.

Questions? Email DATCPnursery@wi.gov or call (608) 224-4574. For more information, visit the Nursery and Christmas tree licensing webpage.

New Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar) Identification Training Available Online for Industry

Plant industries, such as nurseries, Christmas tree growers, sawmills, loggers, and firewood dealers who transport or ship regulated articles, such as trees or logs, out of the area regulated (quarantined) for the insect formerly known as gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) are required to have a compliance agreement with the USDA APHIS or DATCP. 

Staff at these businesses are required to know how to identify L. dispar life stages and be familiar with the life cycle of this introduced pest, as well as how to control gypsy moth according to APHIS guidelines in the event gypsy moth is detected.  Recently, our forest pest specialist created an online version of the L. dispar moth identification training for plant industry staff to complete at their convenience. This training, which is also posted on our L. dispar regulatory page, includes a link to a website at the end that allows participants to fill out a form with their contact information and answer a few questions about L. dispar and its regulations to verify that they understood the training. We are hoping this will allow businesses to more quickly and efficiently train new staff, provide refreshers to long term employees, and help us slow the westward spread of this pest to new areas.

If you have feedback or questions on the training, please contact forest pest program coordinator Tim Allen at (715) 891-8158​​ Timothy.Allen@wisconsin.gov.

Disposing of Holiday Décor with Elongate Hemlock Scale

While Christmas tree lot inspections this year have turned up fewer instances of invasive species such as elongate hemlock scale (EHS), inspectors occasionally detected this pest on Fraser and balsam fir décor and (very rarely) on Christmas trees coming to Wisconsin from out-of-state. 

Because EHS can live a long time on cut material and pose a threat to Wisconsin’s Christmas trees, native hemlocks and other conifers, any fir décor showing signs of infestation, such as small, brown oblong scale insects on needle undersides, should be chipped, burned or thrown in the trash rather than placed (or planted, if rooted) in back yards or forests. EHS is native to Asia and established in several eastern states, but this invasive pest has never been found on the landscape in Wisconsin.

Consumers should still put Christmas trees on the curb if they have local community pickup programs that may chip trees once the holiday season is over. But, if you suspect EHS on fir décor or trees, please report it to DATCP’s pest hotline at (866) 440-7523 and, if possible, email a clear, close-up picture to DATCPpesthotline@wi.gov. To learn more about EHS, visit https://datcp.wi.gov/Pages/Programs_Services/EHS.aspx.