Tree Problem

[StackedLumber]

Was looking over one of my maple trees yesterday, and noticed swarms of those tent worms en masse all over a couple of the limbs. They haven't spun any of their nasty nests, but they were grouped by the hundreds at different spots on the limbs. At a distance I thought there was black rotting spots on the limbs, and then I got closer and saw the evil beasts! Near the tree I have 4 fairly juvenile apple trees that I really am trying to take care of.

Any help or advice on how to get rid of the tent worms and protect my apple trees also?? Three of the trees are just starting to blossom for the year, so I'm wary of spraying the leaves and blossoms w/ an insecticide b/c I do want beneficial bugs to do their "thing". thx

 

[Uper]

How high are the worms on the maple? Can you reach them without much effort? I would just control them mechanically. In other words, by maybe brushing them off into a bucket and either burning them or adding a solution to the bucket that would kill them (bleach or ammonia). I have heard that Bacillus Thuringiensis (sp.?), or Bt will control them. It is a bacterium that I believe affects the worms digestive tract. Other insecticides might work, but if you have a small enough area why not just try to stay ahead of them without sprays. If they do get on you apples, just do the same and control them daily by hand. BTW, I hear they can weaken the maples substantially over time to the point of death, but that would be based on the severity of the infestation.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And if they get into the apple trees, just use a stick to knock it and them down. If you want to kill them, soapy water (dish soap works) should do the trick.

Every so often we go around our place and torch them. That gets rid of them for several years but they will be back. Then we do it all over again. Around here the especially like the cherry trees and I do not recall them ever being on the apple trees.

 

[billb3]

I've done the torch thing but found most dropped on the ground when sensing the heat undamaged.
I would also catch them (when they drop) with a metal garbage can cover and then burn them a little more sufficiently, but a bucket of soapy water works, too. They drown in soapy water but not plain water. You can damage a tree easy with flame, though.
I've sprayed wasp and hornet spray into a silk nest and that works but is rather expensive.

The different kinds of tent caterpillars don't seem to like the maple trees here, but they sure do prefer the cherry trees and will move out of them and into the oaks. I'll inspect the apple tres during the Winter for thier little egg casings and remove them.

I see no tent caterpillars this year ( our last big population boom was four years ago).
I've got leaf rollers this year bad instead. (the moth one that rolls the undeveloped leaf)
I'm expecting a lot of winter moth larvae any day too, biggest number of moths last January I've ever seen.

 

[Flatbedford]

Is a tent caterpillar the same as Gypsy moth caterpillar?

 

[LLigetfa]

About once a decade they arrive here in biblical proportions. Soap and water is all that's needed to kill them by suffocation. I used Sunlight dish soap mixed with water in a garden sprayer attached to the garden hose and killed them by the millions. I was carting off the corpses one wheelbarrow load after the other.

 

[Uper]

Is a tent caterpillar the same as Gypsy moth caterpillar?

No, I think the tent worm is from the Lackey Moth.

 

[smokinj]

Bugs when out of control will do there thing and kill are severly damage the tree for the rest of its life cycle some times you have to take action!