Host Trees
Gypsy moths prefer oak, aspen, maple, and elm trees, but also feed on apple, sweetgum, speckled alder, basswood, gray and white birch, poplar, willow, and hawthorn trees. They avoid ash, yellow-poplar, sycamore, butternut, black walnut, catalpa, flowering dogwood, balsam fir, red cedar, American holly, and shrubs.