The City of San Carlos is trimming trees and washing down sidewalks on Laurel Street in order to clean sticky sidewalks due to an aphid infestation.
Aphids are small green insects that feast on sap and have been especially prominent in San Carlos this year.
According to Nate Dempsey, a San Carlos resident for over ten years, he has noticed the aphids because of the sticky sidewalks which are a direct cause of the aphid’s droppings.
Andy Dent, a student at Carlmont and active Laurel Street visitor also said something similar.
“I’ve noticed my shoes make a weird squeaky noise when I walk into a store,” Dent said.
Prior to the cleanup, there was a noticeable amount of leaves and sap on the sidewalk. The sap would inevitably stick to pedestrian shoes, trailing into stores, restaurants, and their own cars.
To fix this, San Carlos has started trimming tree canopies and washing sidewalks on the week of Oct. 15 and will continue until the sidewalks are clean.
“San Carlos has experienced infestations in the past, but this year seems to be especially challenging,” Public Works Director Steven Machida published in an email.
Aphids produce a substance called honeydew, which is the sticky substance you might find your shoes sticking to according to Andy.
Honeydew is the excretion made after aphids suck out all the tree’s juices and sap. To get rid of the sap dropoff, the Machida mentioned two main ways of dealing with the aphids and sticky sidewalks.
The initial idea was to inject a solution into the tree’s roots, which would hurt some of the aphids, but this was not used.
San Carlos has experienced infestations in the past, but this year seems to be especially challenging.
— Steven Machida
Instead, the idea they pursued was to cut back trees so aphids had less space to attach to. They would also rinse sidewalks with water to clean off all the sap.
The new rinsed-off sidewalks will hopefully keep working against many of those problems, but it will take a lot of work and time.
“The sidewalks looked a little cleaner the last time I went,” Dent said.
Without previous exposure to problems like this, the City of San Carlos will continue tackling the problem week by week.
There will be routine sidewalk washing until all leaves have fallen from the trees to ensure a cleaner and non-sticky sidewalk.
“I’m ready to see the sidewalks clean again,” Dempsey said.
