Date: Fri, March 31, 2006

In this email look for the following:  Eastern Tent Caterpillar E Letter

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Eastern Tent Caterpillar:

About the time the leaves start to show up on apples, crabapples, wild cherry, and any of the ornamental cherries, you can also observe the birth of Eastern tent caterpillars who find those same leaves highly delectable. As these caterpillars begin to feed they also spin silken webbing creating a “tent” in the crotches of branches.

Those who are out noticing and paying attention can observe these caterpillars now on the cusp of a whole new career of feeding on the leaves of your trees. If you watch carefully you can spend about 6 weeks observing them devour your tree. After that they will move out to create a cocoon and take a rest from all the gourmet diet that they surely appreciate you providing. After the rest, they imitate other animal life forms in which males and females engage in mating activity. Eventually the female lays eggs on a tree that wasn’t defoliated previously. The eggs rest quietly waiting for next year’s leaves.

Some gardeners object to this activity. They actually stoop to going out early in the morning or on rainy days to catch all the caterpillars reclining in the tent. They use a stick to poke at the tent and disturb the resting caterpillars. Since the material is so sticky, it’s not hard to wrap up all the material around the stick catching most of the caterpillars as well. I don’t know what they do with the caterpillars. They are scarcely sufficient to make a meal. I’ve never heard of ways to preserve them. Some gardeners are just cruel to insects.

Some gardeners actually like to barbecue the insects on the tree. This activity is not encouraged since fire may damage the tree and sometimes also falls on the barbecue chef. There are many hazards with fire, especially during drought conditions such as we are now experiencing.

But for entomologists, there are many interesting aspects to this caterpillar, also known as Malacosoma americanum. If you would like to know some of the things entomologists think are interesting or even see pictures, visit the website at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/trees/note61/note61.html

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E Letters are archived at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/homehort/WhatsGardening/WGEindex.html

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Al Cooke
Extension Agent - Agriculture
Chatham County Center
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
N C State University
PO Box 279
Pittsboro, NC 27312
919.542.8202, FAX 919.542.8246
al_cooke@ncsu.edu http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/staff/acooke/home.html