Ann wrote:

"Jean B." expounded:


Hmmm. I haven't seen anything on them, so tomorrow I will look
closer. I did notice that my nishiki willow looked nice one day
and half naked the next day, and closer inspection revealed
caterpillars. If there are, indeed, caterpillars, can one spray
or something?


We have a new pest, the winter moth, and the caterpillars are
voracious eaters, like the canker worm. Remember last November all
those little white moths in your headlights? That's the buggers.

I have problems with the canker worms, so I spray every spring,
starting with leafout, with a BT spray on my cherries and flowering
almond. You have to start when they're young, they measure them by
instars or somesuch, when they're more than a half-inch long I think
they're too big for the BT to overcome them. Unfortunately at this
point I think only sevin will kill them, but you know all else that
will kill! If this is the first year of your infestation then the
trees and shrubs will releaf and recover. Next spring be sure to hit
them early and hard with the BT spray. Hose-end sprayers are cheap
and they spray 30' or so, so it isn't a problem to use them on
ornamental trees. Unfortunately the same can't be said of the oaks,
they've taken a hard hit, too, but they're too tall for me to spray
(

PS. Well, I see NOTHING on the barberries and no evidence of
gnawing--and nothing different about the one that has these dead
branches compared to its neighbors on each side which have none.
Yet. And the odd (to me) thing is the rapidity with which this is
happening--and the fact that the whole branches are dying at the
same time. I'm going to try to peer down the property line. I
will say that right before I noticed this, I was in the area of
the barberries and I noticed an odd smell--like some herbicide or
something.... And the neighbor HATES these bushes. (Mind you,
they were there before either of us moved in!) He wants that area
to be totally open, while my daughter and I crave privacy. Well,
if they die, the fence will be extended with no lag between taking
the bushes out and putting up the fence. Not one day's worth.

While I was out, I did see that my river birches' leaves are quite
gnawed--and I saw little green caterpillars, practically
invisible, glued to the leaf edges, so that is no mystery. :-(

--
Jean B.