Ok Gardeners--HELP!

[Smiling JOe]

"I don't think I got very good mortality on those caterpillars," he says.
Pyrethroid insecticides are an effective killer, he says, if they penetrate the webs, but they also will kill beneficial insects, such as bees, and butterflies. A hose-end sprayer, he points out, will not reach the treetops anyway.
"For most people, the best thing to do is grin and bear it," recommends the entomologist. "If a tree is defoliated this time of year, it is not going to die, if it is otherwise healthy.
"Figure this is a bad year for caterpillars, and move on."

FYI - a single year can have four generations of web worms, so it isn't surprising to hear of two or three.

 

[DD]

Sorry for the delayed look at this thread. I remember Fall as being the time I most often saw webworms. They always seemed a little like Halloween -- spooky! The fuzzy/prickly larvae never bothered us, so we never bothered them. They often nested in our pecan trees, but never killed the trees. Soon, they would develop into moths and fly away, only to be forgotten about. The webs don't look pretty in the trees, but unless you have unhealthy trees, they are not likely to kill them. They are just another part of our world, and they feed on plants, and other animals feed on them. I wouldn't worry too much about them. Just let them do their thing and you do your's. It isn't like they are going to creep up on you and scare the ba-geezers out of you, like a snake might do. Just relax, keep your trees watered, and you should have no problem. Read a little about the life of the critters and you might grow to appreciate them a little more. They are truly fascinating creatures, changing bodily forms.

"We are forever 'conquering' nature, space, mountains, deserts, bacteria, and insects instead of learning to cooperate with them in a harmonious order...The hostile attitude of conquering nature ignores the basic interdependence of all things and events -- that the world beyond the skin is actually an extension of our own bodies -- and will end in destroying the very environment from which we emerge and upon which our whole life depends."
Alan Watts -- The Book: on the taboo against knowing who you are (1966)

SJ, normally I am a "live and let live" type of gardener, but somehow these things just give me the creeps and I don't like the way the destroy my pretty leaves. But, ultimately, you are right..I know they won't kill the trees, and I guess I just got a little OC over them. I will take your advice under consideration.

I think it might be a little late for the "little fuzzy/prickly larvae in DD's yard". I think they have probably already gone on the meet their maker.

:funn: A large number have done just that!

 

[DD]

As Dallas entomologist Mike Merchant predicted, a second generation of webworms has hatched to defoliate not only our trees but also our ornamental annuals, perennials and shrubs.
Dr. Merchant, with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, theorized in June that the webworms' early seasonal appearance could mean a second and even a third generation of the pests could wreak considerable damage before a frost sends them into dormancy.
"They're called fall webworms because, most years, that's when they are at their worst," says Dr. Merchant.
His own sweet gum tree is full of the grayish-white webs and skeletonized leaves that are evidence of the caterpillar infestation.
Their webs are high above my back garden in huge old pecans and elms. But they also are eating the leaves of my dwarf Japanese maples, brugmansias, Confederate roses and other ornamental plants.
I eradicated many of the millions of snails and sowbugs that were my garden's nemesis earlier in the season by applying Sluggo Plus between rain showers, but now I have to mount another campaign against the innocuous-looking whiskery, white caterpillars.
The good news is that, unlike the infestations in my trees, I can reach the webworms eating my flowering plants. I pluck them off and throw them into the fish pond or the rolling trash bin, whichever is handy. I'd rather the garden chickens would eat them, but they are leery of the long, white filaments covering the caterpillars' bodies. No, the hens choose my hard-working earthworms in the compost heap.
"Webworms prefer pecans and mulberries, but they have a pretty wide host range," says Dr. Merchant. "This year there are so many of them that they're eating just about anything."
He sprayed spinosad, an organic product, on his sweet gum about two weeks ago, but without breaking open the webs first, to see what effect the product would have.

NATALIE CAUDILL/DMN



"I don't think I got very good mortality on those caterpillars," he says.
Pyrethroid insecticides are an effective killer, he says, if they penetrate the webs, but they also will kill beneficial insects, such as bees, and butterflies. A hose-end sprayer, he points out, will not reach the treetops anyway.
"For most people, the best thing to do is grin and bear it," recommends the entomologist. "If a tree is defoliated this time of year, it is not going to die, if it is otherwise healthy.
"Figure this is a bad year for caterpillars, and move on."

Well, great.

 

[Miss Kitty]

...so sorry dd!!! Don't you just hate it when SJ is right?

 

[DD]

...so sorry dd!!! Don't you just hate it when SJ is right?

:roll: yes. How is he right so much of the time?

 

[Smiling JOe]

One of the spooky things about them are the webs. Many people have a phobia of spiders, so maybe that is an association in our minds. Also, seeing the skeletal remains of the leaves which they eat, can leave that creepy feeling with us. Interestingly, we pick fruits and vegetables from plants all the time, and never think of ourselves as being plant predators, though we don't hesitate to think of webworms as plant predators, and they are not even competing against us for the same food.

Thanks for considering my thoughts on living in harmony with nature.

 

[Ocean Lover]

I'm glad I read this this morning instead of last night or I might have had buggy dreams! NoHall, that spider cricket thing is creepy! Looks like a mutant of some kind. It's not too often that I'm happy to say I live up North. Y'all have a lot of BIG creepy critters. And I thought my Japanese beetles were bad. And by the way, after I sprayed them with water, they really never came back.

 

[DD]

One of the spooky things about them are the webs. Many people have a phobia of spiders, so maybe that is an association in our minds. Also, seeing the skeletal remains of the leaves which they eat, can leave that creepy feeling with us. Interestingly, we pick fruits and vegetables from plants all the time, and never think of ourselves as being plant predators, though we don't hesitate to think of webworms as plant predators, and they are not even competing against us for the same food.

Thanks for considering my thoughts on living in harmony with nature.

I really DO try to live in harmony with nature, but these things....well, you know..

You're also probably right about the spooky web thing. I really don't have too much of an aversion to spiders, but I can't stand when I walk into a web...makes my skin crawl.

So Dr. SJ, you have diagnosed my phobia. My check is in the mail.

 

[Teresa]

DD - if they creep you out so bad, then maybe you can gently relocate them to a more comfortable tree habitat with better wormy amenities, perhaps next door?

or just go inside where its cool and forget about 'em. watch some tv.

or do a documentary with your videocam. hail, set up a webcam. give them names, tag them, follow them around and see what they do for entertainment. entertain the wenches with your worms... oh, you've already done this! thanks!

 

[Ocean Lover]

DD - if they creep you out so bad, then maybe you can gently relocate them to a more comfortable tree habitat with better wormy amenities, perhaps next door?

or just go inside where its cool and forget about 'em. watch some tv.

or do a documentary with your videocam. hail, set up a webcam. give them names, tag them, follow them around and see what they do for entertainment. entertain the wenches with your worms... oh, you've already done this! thanks!

I like the documentary idea...we could all watch them turn into moths.