Jean B. wrote:
Jenny wrote:

Jean wrote:


Egad! There are little worms, green and otherwise, making tatters
of my tree leaves--esp. those of the maples. Will the trees survive
this onslaught? Does anything, preferably nontoxic, stop them? If
something like dormant oil spray would work, I could at least spray
my little Japanese maples. On Monday, I will call my arborist.
Thanks.




They were probably tent caterpillars. This year there has been an
explosion in their population in Massachusetts. They defoliated a lot
of the trees on the main street of Greeenfield, for example.

This is a normal cyclical thing, which peaks every 10 years or so. It
has been reported on forr more than a century. When the tent
catepillar population surges, predators expand to bring them back
under control.

The paper here quoted some experts who say that the caterpillars will
be done by mid June and that most of the trees that have been
defoliated will grow new leaves. The exceptions would be trees that
were already in bad shape. They also suggest keeping defoliated trees
well-watered.


Thanks, Jenny. I haven't noticed any tents around here, but the
principle should still be the same. These trees were in good shape, so
I'm glad to hear there is hope. Watering is a good idea! P.S. Nice to
see you!

Jean,

There is another pest in Eastern Mass which isn't as benign, though I'm
not sure you can do anything about it.

This is the only group I'm reading and posting to regularly as I have
had to cut way back on my online activities due to demands of daily
life. My soon-to-be 2 year old garden looks about 10 times nicer than it
did last year thanks to the help I got here.