Advice on Tent Caterpillars

[Lot2Learn]

I'm looking for some advice on dealing with tent caterpillars.

I've got hundreds of nests in dozens of trees (native cherry trees?) that border a couple of my orchards. The challenge is that the nests are too high (25'+) in the trees to be reached with my sprayer.

Last weekend my friends and I cut a few of the trees down, cut out the nests, and killed thousands of tent caterpillars, but I don't think this is a viable strategy to solve the problem.

Question: how do tent caterpillars get out of the trees to attack my fruit trees? If they have to crawl down, perhaps I could coat the base of the tree with something to kill them before they get to my trees? Or maybe there's a trap that I could use?

I'd like to avoid the problem I had last year when our spraying schedule got a little delayed.

Thanks in advance.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Try to break open the nests. They need the nest to populate. I always broke open the nest then sprayed. Haven't had them in years now but they were a pita. If they get to your other trees you can spray the other trees if you can't get them in the wild cherry trees.

 

[wiscwhip]

12ga 7 1/2 shot will clear those nests out of the treetops.

 

[TMIL]

I've got tent caterpillars all over the wild cherry trees here. I guess we'll see if they get on the apples or not.

 

[Lot2Learn]

We've got Imidan on the fruit trees, but like a lot of us we can't be at the farm enough to spray every ten days or after rains. We've got two Captan/Imidan applications on so far this year and so far there's no sign of insect damage, but I don't trust those little buggers!

I can't reach the nests to break them up, but the 12ga idea is interesting!

Another idea is to get a ladder and climb up 12'-15' and spray Imidan on what I can reach (though there will certainly be some nests that I can't reach), then spray a healthy amount of Imidan around the bases of the cherry trees.

Also, some people apparently have success with this bacteria that eats the caterpillar from the inside out: http://amzn.to/1buP7Re

Meanwhile, I'll look into the tanglefoot idea.

The acceptable solution might be a mixture of these approaches.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[wiscwhip]

Spray what you can reach easily, coat all your tree trunks with tanglefoot, and blast down the nests you cannot reach to let the birds, mammals, and other predatory insects take care of the ones that are exposed after shooting up the nests. You got bears? Apparently they love to eat the nasty little buggers, along with coons, possums, and other animals. As many as 60 species of birds have been known to eat them and they have a bunch of insect predators as well as insect parasites like the bacteria that you mentioned.

 

[Lot2Learn]

You got bears?

Yes, unfortunately we have bears. Since my trees are young and not yet making apples, I haven't had a problem with bears messing with my trees, but it seems inevitable.

Here's an animated gif I put together of photos one of our trail cams captured of a bear having fun with one of our ground blinds.

They're just curious, but I'll be carrying a sidearm next year (legal in VA if you have a license to carry) while hunting with a bow/muzzleloader.

 

[wiscwhip]

I would get them out of the trees and on the ground and let the other animals and birds help you put a dent in the population. Once you breech the "tent" nest, it opens the exposed critters up to predation by many things. If you decide to shoot them out of the trees, 12ga, trap loads with 7 1/2 shot through a full choke will keep the pattern nice and tight and do less collateral damage to surrounding limbs and such, while doing a number on the "tent" nest with the shot load being so concentrated on the nest itself.

 

[TMIL]

I have a 15-year-old who is a competitive trap shooter and we've got plenty of shells. That will be fun to shoot them down!

 

[Lot2Learn]

I have a 15-year-old who is a competitive trap shooter and we've got plenty of shells. That will be fun to shoot them down!

Send him to VA!

Seriously, my partner will be turkey hunting May 1 and we're going to invest a box of shells in this idea; thanks!

 

[SD51555]

Full choke.

 

[wiscwhip]

Or tighter if you have it. Turn those nests to dust and you won't have to worry about any stragglers getting to the trees.

 

[WTNUT]

WI DNR recommends placing sticky bands or making your own using something like tanglefoot around trees to protect them. May also be worth a shot

What in the name of Barney Fife is sticky bands or tanglefoot?

 

[WTNUT]

Okay used Google figured it out but that stuff isn't cheap if you have 100 trees.

 

[Lot2Learn]

Update from this past weekend:
1. While we had sprayed 14 days ago, we had a least 2" of rain since then, so our protection had eroded for sure
2. Where we had caterpillar nests in the area, my young apple/pear trees had lots of caterpillars on them, though damage was modest so they must have very recently made their way to the trees. Furthermore, one of my apple trees had a tent caterpillar nest built in it (grrrr)
3. After turkey hunting was over on Saturday, my partner sprayed the fruit trees
4. After spraying, he implemented Wiscwhip's advice and did some shooting...six boxes (150 shells!) worth of shooting. My friends ran out of ammo before running out of nests to shoot. He estimates that there were 40+ trees with nests in them. In addition to doing some good, he said the shooting was fun! The nests are getting harder to see with the increased amount of foliage, so next year we'll do some shooting earlier in the year.
5. I'm buying some tanglefoot and will implement when I'm at the land in a couple of weeks

 

[SD51555]

I keep pondering in my head some kind of flammable liquid you could shoot up there and subsequently ignite with a roman candle. Brake cleaner maybe? This advice seems highly dangerous and prone to error, but that would still be a lot of fun.

 

[j-bird]

I made a post on these little PIA as well. I treated the nests I could find and reach in my cherries with "Seven" and treated my fruit trees as a preventative measure as well. This year has been the worst I can remember at leas recently for them.