Maybe 10 Tent Caterpillars Nests In One Tree. Cut It Down?

[MrSalvage]

All these trees are going away from here. I have freestone peaches & chestnut seeds so far that are going to replace them. I also have some very nice concord grape seeds too.
Hey that's a whole other story tho...

Bill

[MrSalvage]

Originally Posted by JLJ_

I don't mean to be a gloom-bird about BT, as it does effectively vanquish some problem critters, and there is risk/benefit balance to be considered with everything, but I think I may become JLJ BTthoughtSeed and begin dropping this particular kind of thought seed everywhere BT is recommended . . . to counteract the impression that some (not all) develop that there is no reason to worry about adverse effects of BT contact as long as you count your feet and verify that you are not a caterpillar.

It's an old piece, and is not by any means a complete look at pros and cons, but it's one of the best at just raising some issues concerning BT that may not get enough consideration, I think.

http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Bacillus...giensis-Bt.htm

This was a good read. Now i'm contemplating taking the BT back. Just wondering what else good be used in my garden if I have problems later in the year. Say with my maters and peppers?

[Adriana]

A flame weeder does a fantastic job on tent caterpillars if you can reach them.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by MrSalvage

This was a good read. Now i'm contemplating taking the BT back. Just wondering what else good be used in my garden if I have problems later in the year. Say with my maters and peppers?

Yes. It is fabulous for ridding the cabbage and broccoli of the dreaded green caterpillars. hornworms on the peppers an tomatoes... any caterpillar larvae will die if it ingests the Bt.

[Scooty]

Honestly, it's not that hard to clean out the chemical sprayer with bleach, soap and hot water. It gets rid of the residue. You'll need about two or three flushes to get it really clean.

In any case, I would spray that whole tree down with spinosad and be done with it. It's rated for organic use, and it does a pretty decent job with caterpillars and just about any other bug pestering your fruit trees.

[Worth1]

Is it worth it to mess with one sprayer as cheap as they are?

To each his own but I have several.
Worth

[AlittleSalt]

I use the $5 ones sold at Walmart. One for insecticides and another for everything else.

[Starlight]

We get tent worms here on and off all the time. I just let them be. They will much leaves and birds will get a lot of them, but the biggest critter that gets rid of the tent worms is bees and wasps.

When the tent worms hit the ground the beneficals go crazy. They swarm on the worms and you can move around and not get stung they so concentrated on the worms.

Can't do any kind of burning the nests out here cuz of all the woods all around. Now if the bees would just stay around to pollinate the plants.

[Worth1]

Well the ones I had on my plant only eat that plant and the plant is poisonous so the caterpillars are poisonous.
The birds somehow know this.
The darn things will kill one of those trees.

Worth