Tree and shrub services in Falmouth, Maine.

Falmouth's Chapter II-21, effective April 1, 2026, bans outdoor neonicotinoids everywhere in town and otherwise limits pesticides to materials on the allowed side of the USDA National List. It carves out an exemption for invasive insects — emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, hemlock woolly adelgid, browntail moth and others identified by the state — but professional applicators using it must follow integrated pest management. Much of the answer is therefore mechanical and cultural: pruning out webs, improving vigor, mulching root zones.

On waterfront lots, the state's shoreland rules allow pruning of the lower third of a tree's branches in the buffer and dead branches without restriction. Structural pruning is timed to the species, cuts are made at the branch collar, and shrubs are thinned rather than sheared so they stay healthy through the next decade.

Hemlocks deserve a look as well; hemlock woolly adelgid is one of the invasive insects Falmouth's ordinance names in its treatment exemption, and a thinning crown or white wool at the base of the needles is worth an arborist's inspection. Plant health care starts with that kind of close look at each tree, followed by the least disruptive fix that will work.