Liquid Seven or Malithon sprayed on the entire tree will do the job. Repeat in a week. Both can be purchased at a farm supply store or garden center. Personally, I mix both in my sprayer at the same time to make sure I get the little suckers. They will kill the tree if not treated.
If mixed properly they will not harm anything in your garden. I to have perinnels. They will eliminate many types of unwanted bugs. Good for Jap Beetle which will be here soon.
Ortho is the brand name of these chemicals. Perfectly safe is used properly. They can be purchased at any garden center, Lowes, Home Depot or Southern States store. Walmart might sell the Liquid Seven. I have used these products many times with no ill effects to the plant it is applied to or other plants. You will need a sprayer which you can also get at one of these stores. A one or two gallon sprayer should be sufficient. Make sure you really drench the tree and try and get into the nests of the catipillers as much as possible. Wait a day and then reinspect the tree and reapply if needed.
Thank you so much for the info. Last year I ended up picking them off because I was so scared to use anything because I thought it would harm the rest of the plants.
#8
mystreba
I have not had luck with the chemical route. While the chemicals won't harm the plants, I found that a) they didn't kill the caterpillars, and b) they did kill the bees that pollinate all my flowering trees and shrubs. To me, there is only one surefire way to rid yourself of tent caterpillars and that is burning - worked on witches, and works on caterpillars
I have numerous cherry and apple trees that caterpillars LOVE. Last year I purchased a really nice extendable pole trimmer. The Wolf brand ZM-V4 is extendable to 157" and has a simple and easy-to-use system for quickly changing attachments - loppers, saw, etc. I used this to lop off all branches that had nests. Once the nest crashed to the ground, I neatly trimmed it off and escorted it over to my backyard fire-pit. End of problem.
Sometimes nests are too high to reach, even with a pole trimmer. For those, I used an extension ladder to get myself up high enough to reach with the pole trimmer. Not everyone is comfortable on ladders, so if your nests are too high you may need to try the chemicals. (note that you'd still need to purchase a high-power sprayer that can reach those heights).
Either way, just make sure you get them when they're in their nests - early morning or late evening (basically dawn or dusk).
Also, remember that tent caterpillars don't fly or jump into your trees, they climb them same as you and I - right up the trunk. That's why many people put traps around the trunks of their flowering trees. This can be a simple fold of tin or even burlap - search the web and see how they're made. It's a simple concept that crawlers can't get past the fold.
Finally, you may want to keep your eye out for the eggs. They are fairly easy to spot. Again, search the web and you'll find lots of info about how to identify and remove the eggs.
Wow, thanks for all the information. I picked them all off by hand last time and put them into a mixture of beer and salt water, it was a concoction I found on the internet and it seemed to work. I'm waiting to see if they return this year.
put them into a mixture of beer and salt water, it was a concoction I found on the internet and it seemed to work. I'm waiting to see if they return this year.
Perhaps I did read it wrong, it did work though and that is all that mattered, the little bug-gars are disgusting at best and do one heck of a mess to the poor trees they attack
Wow, thanks for all the information. I picked them all off by hand last time and put them into a mixture of beer and salt water, it was a concoction I found on the internet and it seemed to work. I'm waiting to see if they return this year.
Just to follow up. Last year I had two trees absolutely infested. One, a flowering crabapple, and the other a flowering cherry. As I said I cut out the nests and burned them. This year, I had ZERO nests in the cherry, and two small nests in the crabapple, which I promptly cut out and burned.
In an infestation, a single tree can have over a thousand caterpillars, so picking them off by hand indicates your problem isn't too bad. You may be able to manage just fine the way you're going...
That was the only time I had ever had an issue with them so I didn't know how bad it was. By listening to you folks, it seems that mine was not bad at all. I will see what this year brings.
Anyone know the reason why they call them tent caterpillars? If you really want to get rid of them you might just want to go ahead and cut down your weeping willow tree.
I don't want to do that, the tree was planted when my mom was a kid, I like the tree just not caterpillars, I would love to find a plant they hate so I could plant that to deter them
