Eastern Massachusetts: worms on trees
 

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.
--
Jean B.

In article , "Jean B."
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.

Maybe Tuesday instead, because of the holiday?

Where are you in eastern MA? I've noticed some tattered leaves myself,
but haven't spotted the worms (yet).

Priscilla in Roslindale
--
"Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what
the hell happened." -- Cora Harvey Armstrong

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.

Priscilla Ballou wrote:

Maybe Tuesday instead, because of the holiday?

Where are you in eastern MA? I've noticed some tattered leaves myself,
but haven't spotted the worms (yet).

Priscilla in Roslindale

Lexington. They are on everything. The maples look REALLY bad,
and now I noticed my river birches have also been seriously gnawed.

Yes, I realized it would have to be Tuesday.

--
Jean B.

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 B.

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.

Jenny wrote:

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.

Crud! I guess I will see what the arborist says. These things
are numerous and voracious. Never saw such a horrible onslaught.

--
Jean B.

"Jean B." expounded:

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.

Winter moths larvae. See
http://www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_s...inter_moth.pdf
for more info.

Here's another article from The Patriot Ledger
http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news07.txt

It's too late to hit them with biological controls, they have to be
applied when the larvae are very small, they're too big now, I guess.

--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Jenny expounded:

They were probably tent caterpillars.

No, they're not. They're winter moth larvae; anyone who lives in this
area will remember the little white moths fluttering in the headlights
back in November - they're their progeny.
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Ann wrote:

"Jean B." expounded:


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.


Winter moths larvae. See
http://www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_s...inter_moth.pdf
for more info.

Here's another article from The Patriot Ledger
http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news07.txt

It's too late to hit them with biological controls, they have to be
applied when the larvae are very small, they're too big now, I guess.

Crud! I think you're right. Looks like water is the way to go,
and maybe oil in the fall. :-( I have to say I noticed moths at
my back window even in the winter--and that is very near the
hardest-hit trees. More :-( (But thanks for the info!)

--
Jean B.