Hello! Happy June! Happy hot weather! Happy humidity! Happy little break from all that heat and humidity! And what we need right now is a break from all of those awful caterpillars out there that have invaded our space! Their massive numbers are enough to make a veterans’ skin crawl!

Who are they?
Why are they here?
When are they going to go away?
What can we do?
Lucky you! I’ve come today with some answers to these perplexing questions.

Who are they?
Some people call them worms; some people call them caterpillars. Some people use very descriptive adjectives to describe them – words that we can repeat over the airwaves.

Actually they are two different kinds of caterpillars. One is the Eastern Tent Caterpillar; the other is the Forest Tent Caterpillar. The Eastern Tent Caterpillars are the ones that you see in those yucky, webby tents in all your poor unfortunate trees. These buggers will devour the leaves of your favorite ornamental trees, like crabapples, plums, and cherry trees.

The Forest Tent Caterpillars don’t make any tents; instead they are like paratroopers dangling from trees on silk threads. And they will devour most of the trees in a typical forest. They absolutely love maple, ash, oak, and white birch.

Why are they here?
Actually, they have always been here, but we usually don’t notice them. However, - here’s the big however – every ten years or so their numbers explode out of control. A few years back, these marauding monsters defoliated hundreds of acres in Harrisville, Lake Bonaparte, and vast areas in the Adirondacks.

So why are we so cursed now? Why are we being punished with this plague? Actually, these invasions are all natural occurrences. And just what does that mean? Do we have to grin and bear it as we watch all of the leaves on our favorite trees and sugar bush disappear? Do we have to learn not to scream as we walk through their dangling threads or have one land on us?

I say – NO!
I say we take a stand!
I say we mount an attack!
I say we stop them dead in their tracks!
Just say NO to these bugs!

OK! So what to do? Well, that depends! It depends on how big your particular Easter or Forest Tent caterpillars are. If most of these monsters are already about 2 inches long, and they are nice and juicy plump, then these buggers have had their fill. They are at the end of their life cycle.

Does that mean that you should let them get away with it, and just leave them alone? Well, again, that depends! Many folks are shocked and horrified to see hundreds upon thousands of these big, fat, juicy tent caterpillars resting on the sides of their houses. These puppies have finished all their feeding, and they are resting a bit while sunning themselves and pondering just where to go next.

Because, what they are planning to do next, is to spin themselves into nice, cozy cocoons in nice, cozy safe places. And they are going to stay in these nice, cozy safe cocoons in nice, cozy safe places for about 2 to 4 weeks. And during that 2 to 4 week time frame in their nice, cozy safe cocoons in nice, cozy safe places, they are busy turning into moths! And then they will each emerge from those their nice, cozy safe cocoons in nice, cozy safe places as transformed moths!

And then they will all fly around like crazy, all looking for a suitable mate. And then after all of these thousands of moths mate, the females will then lay thousands of eggs in special safe egg cases on their favorite trees. And then next spring, these thousands of eggs are going to hatch into thousands of cute, little itty-bitty HUNGRY tent caterpillars. And then they will all keep eating until they go from cute, little itty-bitty HUNGRY tent caterpillars into big, fat, juicy, and DISGUSTING tent caterpillars. And so the life cycle continues; the defoliation continues.

So, if you don’t mind sharing your favorite trees with those big, fat, juicy, and DISGUSTING tent caterpillars, and seeing all your poor trees defoliated, do nothing; just let them be! If you don’t mind seeing thousands of those big, fat, juicy, and DISGUSTING tent caterpillars on the sides of your house deciding where to park their cocoons, do nothing; just let them be! If you don’t mind those big, fat, juicy, and DISGUSTING tent caterpillars turning into millions of big, fat, juicy, and DISGUSTING tent caterpillars next year, do nothing; just let them be!

But is you do want to save your trees from further destruction (there is only so much defoliation a poor tree can take!), then here are some things that you can do.

First, if they are big, fat, juicy, and 2 inches long and all hanging out at your house, pick them off your house, spray them off your house. Collect them all into a bucket filled with soapy water to drown them all. Some folks even spray them with warm soapy water; this seems to kill them. (At least your house will be cleaned!) Hey, if you want to thrown them into a bucket of kerosene and then torch them – go for it – just be careful.

Now if you don’t want to collect them all, if you don’t have the stomach for this kind of job, then help the local economy; hire a kid to do all the dirty work. (Just be sure to pay him by the bucketful, not by the head. Because you just may lose your shirt! There are a lot of caterpillar heads out there!)

And if you still have tents with small tent caterpillars in them – break up those tents if you can reach them. One lady told me that she scouts her trees every day with a little blowtorch – you get the picture!

There are two sprays that will work for these smaller buggers. One is Sevin, a general, all-purpose, non-discriminating bug poison. Sevin will kill al bugs – the good, the bad, and the ugly! This poison has to be sprayed right on the caterpillars to kill them. It is not as effective on the big, fat, juicy, and DISGUSTING tent caterpillars. Keep in mind, this Sevin will also kill honeybees, so be careful where you spray.

The other insecticide is the organic BT – Bacillus thuringiensis. This Bt has to be sprayed right on the leaves that the caterpillars will eat. So if those caterpillars are still small, and still feeding on a particular tree, then there is a good chance that Bt will zap them.

There is still another tent caterpillar control that happens to a natural predator. This one is called the friendly fly. These flies are so friendly that they like to hang around your face. And they are so friendly that these friendly flies won’t bite you. And so friendly that these friendly female flies love to lay their eggs inside the caterpillars. And then these eggs hatch into little hungry larva that will devour the insides of the caterpillar.

Talk about justifiable homicide! Cruel and unusual punishment? I think not! But let’s not tell the ACLU about this friendly fly thing! They just may have a bug division!

But let’s tell everyone instead, right now – there is no Lowville Farmers’ Market this week, because of the Beaver Camp auction. So go there instead today right after you check out your trees and the tent caterpillar situation!

See you at the Lowville Farmers’ Market next week!

Until then……..

Remember – Eat Smart New York!

And bye- Talk to you soon!
D