[nafex] tent caterpillars again

[edforest55@hotmail.com]

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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