FOREST TENT CATERPILLARS WIDESPREAD ACROSS TREES IN WASHINGTON CO.

  

Washington County residents are seeing large amounts of forest tent caterpillars in trees this spring season.

Kara Matheney, Washington County Extension Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources, says forest tent caterpillars appear once a year, usually in April.  This year, a combination of factors have led to a considerable uptick in their numbers.

 

Forest tent caterpillars can be spotted by their dark-gray to brownish body color, with pale-blue and yellow lines along each side and white-colored shoeprint-shaped spots on their back.  They tend to congregate on silken mats they spin on tree trunks and large branches after feeding.

Matheney says the caterpillars are not harmful to humans, and very rarely cause extreme defoliation to trees.  She says more often than not, they tend to be just a nuisance rather than a serious problem.

 

Matheney expects the caterpillar population to dwindle significantly over the coming weeks.

 

For residents who want to treat their trees, Matheney says they can use insecticides with ingredients like Spinosad or Bacillus thuringiensis and target where the caterpillars congregate on the trunk.  However, if the infestation is light, Matheney recommends leaving the caterpillars be and letting Mother Nature take its course.