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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Found something interesting about tent caterpillars, which are showing up now.   Conventional treatment is to spray or burn the nests.  Actually, if you cut the nest out and leave it a good distance (like 100 feet or more) from a shrub or tree, out in the open, the caterpillars are usually destroyed by ants, birds, and other predators in short order.  The nest is their protection and when it's left in the open, they have to eventually try to leave to find a new tree.  When they do, the individual caterpillars are exposed and vulnerable to all sorts of insect eaters, including other insects.  They don't feed on grass, so if they are too far from a food source, they can also starve trying to crawl to another host.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.