In the past few weeks, the emails, from viewers like you have poured into the newsroom. Folks wanting to know what they need to do about those pesky tent caterpillars that are invading their trees. The good news is you might not have to do as much as you think. The bad news is this isn't the only invader you will battle this year.
Cindy Retherford with the Grand Traverse Conservation District has been spending a lot of time on the phone these days. She says "we are getting dozens of calls every week. Sometimes as many as 10 a day. People want to know if they are going to kill the tree, if the tent caterpillars are going to kill the tree, whether they have to worry about them, what they can do about them."
For many those tent caterpillars are the hot topic, for others, the creepy crawly one. Entomologists call them malacosoma americanum, but most of us just call them overwhelming. In fact Retherford says "they are probably 5 times worse this year than last year."
So what exactly do they do? Retherford says "as soon as evening or night arrives, they come out of their tent and feed and they can defoliate the whole tree if it's a small tree or shrub. However it's early enough in the year where that tree will send out more leaves. It probably will not kill the tree. The reason I say probably is if we have a hard summer, not a lot of rain, that puts stress on the tree or shrug, and that could kill a small tree."
So experts say most trees will be ok, as long as we don't have a major drought. Pay close attention to your landscaping trees and shrubs though because they may be more vulnerable. So what if they are already making a home in a tree or shrub you want to protect?
Retherford says "the best thing to do is on your small trees and shrubs in your yard or by your house is to manually get rid of these tents. Take a stick and disrupt the tent. It will bring in predators such as birds. If you take the whole tent down you can either bury it or burn it or put it in soapy water and that will destroy the insects."
A lot of viewers wondered if they can't spray something to kill them. Turns out if you do, you might be wasting your time because Retherford says "the eastern tent caterpillar has gotten to the size where insecticides are probably not going to be effective. They are going to mate, lay eggs and the whole cycle will start again."
So you can deal with the tents, although they will likely start turning into moths pretty soon. That's the good news for your trees, but there is more bad news.
According to the calls coming into the conservation district, Retherford says "we are dealing with the triple threat this year. We have the eastern tent caterpillars that have the little white tents. We have the forest tent caterpillar that lives in the top of the canopy and we also have gypsy moths and feeding out in the canopy."
So why so bad this year? No one knows for sure, but there maybe a connection between Lansing and our creepy crawly friends. The tent worm explosion started last year, turns out, that same year something ended. Retherford says "Grand Traverse County had a gypsy month suppression program until last year and it was a cost share program by the Michigan department of Agriculture. Unfortunately it is one of those programs that were line item vetoed by the governor, with the budget cuts it was eliminated last year and we don't have it again this year. That did help keep the populations down. It not only killed gypsy moths but it also killed tent caterpillars and forest caterpillars because it was an aerial spray by airplane."
Out of curiosity I called the MDA to find out just how much money it cost to actually due the aerial suppression. It turns out the federal government pays 50% of it, the MDA pays 25% and the counties pay 25%. The last year the MDA paid for spraying is cost them around $100,000 for the entire state.
For a press release from the DNR, click here.
So how bad are the caterpillars where you live? Would you be willing to pay more to help cover the cost of aerial spraying? Or are just not too worried about them? I want to hear from you?
You can leave your comments and you can send a picture to mschollett@tv7-4.com of your heaviest infestation for others to see.
