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On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Here in Pennsylvania it looks like we will be inundated with gypsy moths. They are just now coming out and I can see a ton of them climbing up on my garage already. The last time we really had them they were so thick on the roads that they caused some accidents from sliding through them, worse than ice. Bacillus thuragensis kills them but without a helicopter to spray your trees most of the leaves will be eaten. At the end of the year you did not have to clean up leaves in the fall. Lots of trees ultimately died.There are no helicopters that are not booked up and there is no bacillus thuragensis available. It all comes from Canada and most has already been purchased.If there are enough of these caterpillars they will even try to eat green plastic. I plan on spraying all of my plants but I wonder if anyone has some experience with them.

5/26/2021 6:40:18 PM

Bethlehem CT

I am sorry to hear that you have a problem. Gypsy moths have been a big problem here in spots. As a kid in the late 70's early 80's I can remember them everywhere, defoliating whole trees. Back then people were putting sticky trap rings around the trees. (I am sure it didn't work). Or just spraying pesticides high up into mature trees. This years dry spring is going to accelerate the problem next year and if we get a couple more dry springs (consecutively) things could start looking like the 1980's again. If scientists hadn't discovered the entomophapa maimaga fungus and introduced it in 1980, who knows how bad things could have gotten.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophaga_maimaiga

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-gypsy-moth-outbreak-worries-20170328-story.html

Pray for rain in the spring when the caterpillars are hatching.

5/27/2021 7:35:19 AM

Corbin, KY

Wonder if bats eat them?

5/27/2021 1:54:56 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Bats don't eat them. Even the birds don't eat them.

5/27/2021 2:50:04 PM

Grittyville, WA

We used to call them tent caterpillars. Hardly see any now but they were a problem (and a lot of fun to play with) when I was a kid. Pay some 5 year old a penny per caterpillar. Depending on the kid, you might have to relocate them rather than squish them.

5/27/2021 4:36:28 PM

Wixom MI.

Gypsy moth is tent catipilar x 10,000 no compairison. I wonder if bayer sestemic for tree and shrubs would help ?

5/27/2021 4:39:48 PM

Grittyville, WA

Oh... didnt know the difference. Good luck.

5/27/2021 4:50:49 PM

Bethlehem CT

Gritty here is a link, that shows a picture.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/gypsy_moth_eastern_tent_caterpillar_forest_tent_caterpillar_and_cankerworms#:~:text=The%20eastern%20tent%20caterpillar%20has,found%20on%20the%20tent%20caterpillars.

5/28/2021 8:32:24 AM

Honesdale, Pennsylvania

I haven't seen any here in the Northeast part of the state Marv or heard that they were on their way. I need to check on it. They create quite a mess.

5/28/2021 9:23:31 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

They are just starting here. You can see them crawling up the trees, on the sides of your house or floating around in the air on what looks like a very small thread. This is how they move in the air and the wind blows them to other trees. At the end of the summer you see white and brown moths as they get ready for making eggs for next year.

5/28/2021 7:07:31 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Now they are beginning to eat the leaves on the trees. It is hard to say how many there will be because they are just now hatching. Lots of chemicals will kill them but since they mostly are up in the trees it is nearly impossible to reach them without a helicopter spraying them. There were lots of eggs on the trees last winter so I think they will be a big problem this year. I will definitely be spraying my garden with bacillus thuragensis.

6/2/2021 9:32:20 PM

Honesdale, Pennsylvania

There are still no signs of them here in the Northeast corner of the state Marv. I think they are leaving Wayne County alone this year.

6/3/2021 9:13:59 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

You are so lucky. Have you gone out and looked at your trees to see if there are any eggs and if the leaves have holes in them or caterpillars on the leaves or the base of the tree. If we have them it seems like you should too. If you like I will send you some?

6/3/2021 1:20:17 PM

Wixom MI.

I would try bayer tree and shrub sestemic if i were you. I use it on my weeping elm tree witch get a bad case of leaf miner dammage if i don't use it. I have had good success with using it.

6/3/2021 3:41:04 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Thanks. Problem is I have about 100 trees.

6/3/2021 8:22:12 PM

East Carbon, Utah

Late, sadly far too late to this conversation. RIP Marv. To anyone else who may have some interest in gypsy moths, in another incarnation, I published my dissertation on Gypsy Moth impacts on bird populations and forests and contributed to this document:

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.646.1320&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Look especially for paragraphs discussing Diflubenzuron and Gypchek

6/10/2021 2:39:57 AM