The cats notice everything new or different and Jybow didn’t waste any time in alerting me of the hundreds of caterpillars she found. Hopalong doesn’t like creepy crawly things, so she stayed a safe distance away...and besides she has seen these before.
Here’s a close-up of the caterpillars and there was also another white, silk-like sac full of these caterpillars high in the small tree. Jimmy quickly set the bags on fire before they got a chance to spread any further, but we’ll keep an eye out for them now that we know they have arrived and check the trees daily. These little fellas come out of their sacs starving and can eat all the leaves from a tree and leave it bare. We’ve never had a tree die due to infestation by these caterpillars, but as we have just begun to see new green leaves make their spring appearance, we sure don’t want to look at a bare leafless tree again…at least not this soon.These caterpillars finally turn into moths and if you want to read more about the Eastern Tent Caterpillar just CLICK HERE.
9 comments:
Cats are so curious aren't they?
Kill those suckers as fast as you can. We had an infestation several years ago that decimated our Paperwhite Birch. Killed it dead. All because the neighbors wouldn't kill their tent caterpillars and they traveled very quickly to our trees. We sprayed but that didn't help. The only thing you can do is cut the branch and burn or dispose of it quickly (after you've sprayed it with bug killer). Nasty little things.
Ewww and ewww again!!
Those are nasty looking. I'd be getting rid of them quickly like MK says!!
xo
I don't like those things but I have seen trees covered with those sacs full of them before. I remember a neighbor burning them out when I was a kid. They are a nuisance for sure!
Hate those tent caterpillars. When I lived in the country we would get them on our trees we would spray them with Dursban. Now that I live in the city I haven't noticed any. Hope you get them all before they do any damage.
Those caterpillars are spooky! It is amazing how such small things can kill large trees. We lost a mature, prolific lemon tree to European wasps which lay their eggs inside the bark. I hope you can get rid of your pests.
OOOOwww! I hate those caterpillars! They are nasty, I hope you got rid of all of them!
They're distgusting little critters for sure. Our area had a problem with them last year. They did a lot of damage. Hope you can get rid of them all.
Wow, that is a gross picture...i hope they don't come to visit me...
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