Ep 71. Diehard Campers - Tent & Webworms

Have you noticed what looks like cotton candy decorating trees? I thought they were Eastern Tent Caterpillars, also called Tent Worms, we see in spring. But the white webs are Fall Webworms –Tent Worms' close cousins.

Think of them as Diehard Campers with a nifty lifecycle instead of a threat. Besides, the native insects are a food source for our beautiful birds, adorable toads, and beneficial insects. 

It's true, though; they can be rather icky when they fall on your plate at a barbeque. And so, we chat about safe ways to remedy them if need be.

We wrap up the episode with a hilarious story of brother Rick's rose dilemma once caused by Tent Capterpilars until a Scarlet & Green Leafhopper hopped in. 

 Link to Related Stories:

Fall Webworm vs. Eastern Tent Caterpillars 

Rose is a Rose Pest Remedies

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Kind listeners, I'd love to hear about your garden and nature stories. And your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. Please email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. 

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer

Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com 

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Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 71 Diehard Campers – Tent and Webworms

Sat, Sep 3, 2022 . 3:10 PM9:58Owner: Mary Stone

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

garden, insects, trees, roses, fall, caterpillars, mary, barbecue, worms, bt, dilemmas, remedies, cotton candy, moth, campers, green specks, Webworms, Tent Caterpillars, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone, Garden Stories, Garden Inspiration, Nature Inspiration

 SPEAKERS

Mary (100%) 

MS

Mary Stone

0:00

Hello fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries. It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about. 

MS

Mary Stone

0:27

Hello, there, it's Mary stone once again on the screened porch. Finally, the cicadas quieted down. I had come out here early this morning, and it was unbearable. Once again, they just seem to be going on and on. They're just carrying on and on. Don't they know it's time to quiet down and go back to the business of meeting and making more eggs for next year? I guess all in due time. 

MS

Mary Stone

0:52

How fun it was to hear from several of you about family traditions and gardening and how it passed forward from generation to generation. It really is a beautiful thing to share digging in the dirt. And if you don't like to dig, as I said last week, certainly fun to observe nature and observe gardens and just enjoy the beauty of them. 

MS

Mary Stone

1:12

So today we are going to talk about something that stumped me, I have to say, and that is seeing these what looks like, you know, cotton candy in the trees. I'm very familiar with tent caterpillars, which we will talk about, but the fall tents are something different. So we're going to share that story today. And it starts like this. 

MS

Mary Stone

1:33

Hello fellow listeners and readers. Have you noticed what looks like cotton candy decorating trees? I thought they were Eastern tent caterpillars, also called tent worms, that we see in the spring. But it turns out the white webs they're often like two feet wide. Are fall webworms tent worms close cousins, both feed on shade fruit and wooden trees. But the fall webworms pitch their tents in late summer or early fall around branches and feed on them while they camp. And so they are filled with fecal droppings, and food reminiscence doesn't sound so pleasant, does it? 

MS

Mary Stone

2:12

In comparison, the Eastern tent caterpillars make their tents in the spring in the forks of branches, and they leave their campsite to eat leaves on nearby trees returning in the evening or during rainy weather to hunker down, so their abodes are far tidier. 

MS

Mary Stone

2:29

The Penn State Extension Office rights tent caterpillars have been around since 1646, without breaks, every eight to 10 years. Their favorite feasts are cherry, crabapple, and apple trees. Like their close cousin. They rarely kill trees, though folks blame the poor little fellows for being a significant defoliating pest until the Gypsy Moth outbreak of 1970. And boy, does gypsy moth do some big eating. It's pretty crazy. I don't know if you've endured that, but literally, you walk around the woods and let's just say those fecal droppings are like raindrops Yeah, I know, kind of icky. Never forget to wear a hat. Maybe that should be called topic too.

MS

Mary Stone

3:12

Fall webworms commonly made Crab Apple, walnut birch, and cherry their meal of choice, though they feed on 90 species of deciduous trees. The grown-up webworms are hairy, about an inch and a half long, bluish black or yellowish with dark spots and stripes. The adult mobs are almost purely white. Some have black speckles, though, 

MS

Mary Stone

3:34

Eastern tent caterpillars are not very hairy. They're white and black with blue markings about two inches long, with a distinctive white stripe in the middle of their backs. They are larvae of a moth known as lappet or snout mobs that are reddish brown with white stripes. tent caterpillars can be toxic to horses, mules, and donkeys. I've not heard the same about the fall webworms, though while they can significantly defoliate, they, too, won't usually kill trees. If need be, you can destroy the nests by dropping them into soapy water or using a safe-for-the-environment contact insecticide.

MS

Mary Stone

4:14

So when I speak of these remedies, I'm speaking of both the fall webworms as well as the tent caterpillars, which I'm more familiar with. Although now, because of these questions, I get. I'm becoming very familiar with the fall webworms.

MS

Mary Stone

4:30

Bacillus thuringiensis, which is BT, is the most effective, and it is a naturally occurring bacterium common in soils. It's a selective insecticide that kills caterpillars but is safe for other wildlife. Apply the spray directly on the foliage and the tent nests. It produces proteins that react with the cells of the gut lining of susceptible insects. These BT proteins impact the digestive system, causing the insect to stop Feeding within hours, then they die of starvation, which can take several days. Not very kind. The manual removal, you know, cutting it out of the tree or shrub and putting it in warm water would be my option. 

MS

Mary Stone

5:16

They really are fascinating insects. Think of them as diehard campers with nifty life cycles instead of a threat. Besides, the native insects are a food source for our beautiful birds, adorable toads, and beneficial insects. It's true, though, they can be rather tricky when they fall on your plate at a barbecue. garden dilemmas asked Mary stone.com

MS

Mary Stone

5:40

When I wrote the initial column, diehard campers, that was years ago now; actually, it was when somebody asked me what the critters were at because he was barbecuing hamburgers, and literally, I guess some fell into the barbecue. That does seem rather icky

MS

Mary Stone

5:58

In fact, the story also reminds me of one that was inspired by my youngest brother from Knoxville, Tennessee, which had to do with the little critters, the eastern tent caterpillars. And previous years. Apparently, they demolished his potted roses, but they left his other herbs. He admitted he used a nasty chemical product in the past as a remedy. I reprimanded him as any big sister would do and then advised him to remove the tent or apply BT. The naturally occurring bacteria we just spoke about. There's also neem oil you can use, which is a natural alternative to pesticides. Both are far safer for you, my dear brother, and for the environment. 

MS

Mary Stone

6:42

So later, I checked on him to see if he followed my advice. And he did. He took my advice to remove the tent. So the annual Caterpillar invasion was preempted without using nasty chemicals. But then this was the funny part. So he said, but still, my roses are half defoliated with minimal blooms. So I asked him to take a close look for tiny brown or green specks, which are evidence of mites or aphids. 

MS

Mary Stone

7:10

I have to say roses, as beautiful as they are, they are so fussy, and they seem to get so many things. But boy, when they're beautiful. They sure are beautiful. 

MS

Mary Stone

7:19

So it was on the phone with him when he was doing the inspection. So picture him walking around through his garden and through his pots. And I'm hearing him, and Rick's an engineer by trade. So he's a very analytical type of thinker. So this is when the story gets interesting. 

MS

Mary Stone

7:34

There's no tiny brown or green specks. But I came across this colorful green insect. I couldn't identify it. He sent a photo real quick, you know. And then, as he was inspecting it closer, he goes, it's sparking, which just cracks me up. Leave it to an engineer to associate insect activity with electrical currents. Rick quickly hung up the phone to take photos and a video clip. Maybe it's not a spark, it kind of looks like he or she is shooting a thread. His next photo was the clear liquid on a decoy leaf of notepaper to cool to disturb her, even if it's bad for the rose. So funny. It was so funny, so so of course, I had to track down Rick's mystery visitor, and I consulted with my birder buddy Dennis, who knows so many things about insects and plants, and he identified Rick's visitor as a scarlet and green leaf hopper. Cool, isn't it? It's found in meadows and gardens. It sucks juices from plants, and it's a native. You can check out the cool critter on the roses a rose pest remedies post. I'll put a link in the show notes. 

MS

Mary Stone

8:45

So anyway, thanks so much for visiting with me on the screen porch. I always enjoy our time together, and I hope you have as well. I really do love hearing from you. So please reach out to me if you'd like on the social media listed in the tag, or you can email me at Ask Mary stone@gmail.com I'd love to hear more stories about your garden past. Also, if you've enjoyed the podcast, please share it with your friends or family members that may enjoy it as well. So more can join us in learning and growing in the garden of life because the more that join us, the more people will learn about how much we can do to help our environment to keep it safe and beautiful for generations ahead. Thanks so much. See you next time. 

MS

Mary Stone

9:29

You can follow garden dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.