I haven't had any cicadias yet, but I'm beginning to have a problem with
tent caterpillars. Will BT work on them? If not, what else can I use?
Nina???????

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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I haven't had any cicadias yet, but I'm beginning to have a problem with
tent caterpillars. Will BT work on them? If not, what else can I use?
Nina???????

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

Around here they cut them off and burn them. I'm interested in any other
way to treat them. What is BT?

--
katie

I haven't had any cicadias yet, but I'm beginning to have a
problem with
tent caterpillars. Will BT work on them? If not, what else
can I use?
Nina???????

BT works. Hand picking is quicker.

Jim Lewis - - Rivers are ribbons that tie us
to the spirit of the land - Jeff Rennicke

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Around here they cut them off and burn them. I'm interested in
any other
way to treat them. What is BT?


I suspect Craig isn't concerned with them in webs, but the
individuals that drop from the webs and start chewing on his
bonsai. It's the webs that burn, not the caterpillars. It
usually is enough to just break open the webs. Birds LOVE the
caterpillars.

BT is Bacillus thuringensis, a bacterium which infects
caterpillars. They stop feeding, some time after infection and
starve. It is "organic" in that it only affects targeted
animals/critters. Another version of BT goes after mosquito
larvae and is the ingredient in "mosquito dunks." There are
other strains that go after Japanese beetles, etc.

Read my "Bugs and Bonsai" on our website in the "Knowledge Base."

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

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Around here they cut them off and burn them. I'm interested in
any other
way to treat them. What is BT?


I suspect Craig isn't concerned with them in webs, but the
individuals that drop from the webs and start chewing on his
bonsai. It's the webs that burn, not the caterpillars. It
usually is enough to just break open the webs. Birds LOVE the
caterpillars.

BT is Bacillus thuringensis, a bacterium which infects
caterpillars. They stop feeding, some time after infection and
starve. It is "organic" in that it only affects targeted
animals/critters. Another version of BT goes after mosquito
larvae and is the ingredient in "mosquito dunks." There are
other strains that go after Japanese beetles, etc.

Read my "Bugs and Bonsai" on our website in the "Knowledge Base."

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

Thanks, sounds similar in action to the Nosema locustae I'm using for
grasshoppers which plague us in NW Arkansas much the same as locusts.

I usually put my trees in an enclosure that I've been using for a couple
years as cold storage with chicken house curtains in the winter and screen
in the summer. That enclosure has been the only sure fire method of insect
control that I've used so far.

Not only do I have pests like cattle but now a pygmy goat that have worked
for alternative methods for pruning. Now if I could only teach them to have
aesthetic tastes.....

--
katie
zone 6b

There's currently some controversy in the UK over the "environmentally
friendliness" of using nematodes and bacteria as pest control. How
species specific can they be? If BT destroys the caterpillars of tent
makers such as Tortrix moths, will it not also destroy caterpillars of
other moths and butterflies? Some caution may be advised.

My preference is to hunt them down and squish them cleanly with a gentle
squeeze of every tent.

Kev Bailey
Vale Of Clwyd, North Wales

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There's currently some controversy in the UK over the
"environmentally
friendliness" of using nematodes and bacteria as pest control.
How
species specific can they be? If BT destroys the caterpillars
of tent
makers such as Tortrix moths, will it not also destroy
caterpillars of
other moths and butterflies? Some caution may be advised.

There's no doubt of it and no controversy necessary. BT kills
CATERPILLARS. It does not discriminate between species, or even
beteen moths and butterflies. However, the BT that goes after
the Japanese beetle (or mosquito larvae) PROBABLY won't get
caterpillars.

As in all else dealing with pesticides, moderation rules. If
SOME pesticide works fine it is not true that MORE works better.


My preference is to hunt them down and squish them cleanly with
a gentle
squeeze of every tent.

That is the preferred method of killing most bugs. There is
something aesthetically pleasing about "squishing" bugs -- unless
you have one of those things about slime!

If I see a caterpillar munching on a tree and know that it will
become a pretty butterfly, I will move it to a plant some
distance removed from my bonsai.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Well, the squish method is a pretty good one. Certainly the one I'd use.
However, many strains of BT are pretty specific (check the label, she
intoned monotonously), and it only work with direct contact of the pest,
so there's not much to worry about unless Craig is thinking of doing some
aerial spraying.....

Nina



There's currently some controversy in the UK over the "environmentally
friendliness" of using nematodes and bacteria as pest control. How
species specific can they be? If BT destroys the caterpillars of tent
makers such as Tortrix moths, will it not also destroy caterpillars of
other moths and butterflies? Some caution may be advised.

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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki is what is effective on
lepidopterous species, caterpillars. Good coverage of the leaves is
essential since the insect must ingest for insecticidal action. There is
a major invasion in British Columbia right now, entire alder forests
along the coast have been completely defoliated and the caterpillars are
on the march by the millions, roadways are covered with splattered
caterpillars. It is so bad you cannot see the bark on any deciduous tree
for the caterpillars as well as being defoliated. I am employed at our
local golf club and I have used 1500 gallons of BTK (5 grams per 15
liters of water) and just managing to hold our own, the aesthetics are
important to visitors to the club but otherwise the trees leaf back.
Another annoying problem is that they are starting to cocoon and are
spinning sacks in almost anything that is off of the ground.

Anton

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Nina Shishkoff wrote:

Well, the squish method is a pretty good one. Certainly the one I'd use.
However, many strains of BT are pretty specific (check the label, she
intoned monotonously), and it only work with direct contact of the pest,
so there's not much to worry about unless Craig is thinking of doing some
aerial spraying.....

Nina


Yep, I've got the biplane warming up in the backyard right now.

As Jim surmised, the problem is not that they are building tents in the bonsai, but
individual caterpillars are getting on the trees. That's about all I've seen so I
think BT is the way to go.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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