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  • From: edforest55@hotmail.com
  • To: nafex@yahoogroups.com
  • Subject: [nafex] tent caterpillars again
  • Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:25:21 -0000

I hadn't read the earlier posts on this topic because I had always
read that these pests don't do significant damage. I didn't read the
archives on tent cats until I got back from Northern Wisconsin where
it looks like April with the trees fully defoliated everwhere. You
can only see bits of green in the trees looking from the distance,
like buds but in reallty they are the green stems, all that's left of
the leaves.
I had no idea.
Everyone has their stories to tell of hordes of crawling worms and
squishing through them in cars making ruts in the road.
Some of the controls mentioned were simply soap and water, about a
tablespoon per gallon, or BT, and of course there is the fly with the
red spots that is supposed to control them.
I was told that they have a 16 year cycle during which cold winters
usually thin them out. Some suggested that it is due to global
warming that they have reached such high populations. But I recall a
42 below in 97 I believe that should have done them in (was told taht
anything below 40 would kill them).
I was told that the flies will respond to the high populations and
be ready for them next year. Seems impossible, judging from the high
numbers. I had been bracing myself for the arrival of the gypsy moth
and was totally unaware of the tent cat's incredible ability to
reproduce.
Apparently, since the trees are deofoliated early in the season and
the tent cat's don't do damage after that, the trees will survive. I
had some valuable germplasm up there that looks like trees from Dr.
Seus, I'm hoping that they will sprout new buds from above the grafts
and recover before winter.
I'm curious, could new growth, from this year, sprout new leaves, or
will the new growth have to come from one year wood further down the
trunk?
Kevin B




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  • [nafex] tent caterpillars again, edforest55, 06/26/2001

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