Justin's new discovery of bagworms is timely for this season - not to be confused with webworms, which are an early spring phenomenon. Webworms form their webs in the crotches of branches, where they deposit their pupae. They need to be smoked out or sprayed before they mature or they will gorge themselves with foliage beyond belief. It's amazing that, with all these bugs, fungi and diseases, our trees manage as well as they do - with a little help from us.
Marty H.

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My SIL is manager of an X-mas tree farm and has had various training in pests
and their destruction; probably only relevant to her commercial products.

Anyhow, when she visited she noted the number of JBPs I grew and a few
random "bags" which she attributed to pine tip moths. I had noted minor
catapillar infestations on a few of my trees in the previous two years.

She was surprised I didn't have more of them- I think it was only about two
years after my buying spree...

She claims that one should not "squish" them - they should be detached and
burned (sewer disposal would probably work as well) as otherwise a stress
hormone is released causing further reproduction.

Certainly plausible... This is true of aphids and a few other insects... I saw
a brief spike in frequency in bags that levelled off once I started burning
them.

Truly effective or not, it's certainly more fun- once you get past the smell
that is... there's a certain satisfaction knowing the little buggers are
suffering in there!


Jim Stone
Seki Bonsai
Santa Fe, TX

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Jim and everyone else,

I posted a picture of one of my bagworms in the "Pests Let's see yours
thread" on the IBC galleries located here.
http://internetbonsaiclub.org/compon...opic,16592.45/

I just simply put them in few nested plastic bags tied off quite
nicely and put them in my trash can. One day in the sun drenched 150
degree trash can ought to do the little critters in. These things only
produce one generation a year so controling a population shouldn't be
that difficult.

thanks to everyone who helped me figure out what these were.

Thankfully I didn't need to call in the full fledged CSI-Bonsai unit!

-Ethan

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On Sep 2, 2005, at 11:43 AM, Ethan Smith wrote:

Jim and everyone else,

I posted a picture of one of my bagworms in the "Pests Let's see yours
thread" on the IBC galleries located here.
http://internetbonsaiclub.org/compon...mf/Itemid,133/
topic,16592.45/

I just simply put them in few nested plastic bags tied off quite
nicely and put them in my trash can. One day in the sun drenched 150
degree trash can ought to do the little critters in. These things only
produce one generation a year so controling a population shouldn't be
that difficult.

thanks to everyone who helped me figure out what these were.

Thankfully I didn't need to call in the full fledged CSI-Bonsai unit!

-Ethan

Check your tree(s) carefully and look not only for the smaller bags,
but the big one where next year's eggs are. I just found one on a
spruce tree. It should be several times larger than the others, a good
couple of inches in length.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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