Tent Catepillar's can now be reached from the ground using Spray Close Spray Extender

July 10, 2010 - PRLog -- Tent Catepillar's can be an issue this time of year.  A new product from Your Useful Products, LLC can help spray nests up close to reduce over-spray and chemical exposure.

Tent caterpillars prefer wild cherry along roadways, but it can be found making nests in ornamental apple, crabapple, plum, peach, and cherry in landscapes. Occasionally it will form nests in ash, birch, willow, maple, oak and poplar. The favorite food of the forest tent caterpillar is also wild cherry but oaks, maples, hawthorns, and many other shade and forest trees may be attacked.

Damage
One or two colonies can completely defoliate small trees. Periodic, major outbreaks result in numerous colonies in larger trees which can also do considerable defoliation. Since this defoliation occurs early in the season, the plants must set out new leaves at considerable energy expense.

Besides making a tree look unsightly with the webs it constructs in the crotches of limbs and branches, the caterpillars arouse much concern among area residents when they migrate in mass in search of new food or a place to complete their development. During periods of migration, caterpillars may be seen by the thousands traveling over roads, streets, driveways, and sidewalks.

Control Hints
Strategy 1: Mechanical Control - Destroy Egg Masses and Nests - The egg masses are easy to spot after the leaves have dropped in the fall. Simply clip off and crush or dispose. If egg masses were undetected, there is ample time to hand remove any nests in the spring. It is suggested that a glove be used as the caterpillar hairs are irritating to some people. Simply scrape the nest off onto the ground and crush the caterpillars or drop them into a pan of soapy water. Early morning or late afternoon is best because most of the caterpillars will be in the tent.

Strategy 2: Biological Control - Use Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) - Most commercial Bt products for caterpillar control will work on the tent caterpillars. Make applications to the plant foliage while the larvae are small. Numerous predators and parasites also attack this pest but in some years these agents do not arrive in sufficient numbers to adequately control tent caterpillars.

Strategy 3: Chemical Control - Insecticide Sprays - Most contact and stomach insecticides rapidly control this pest. Direct sprays to the plant foliage and nest. The larvae are usually easy to contact if spraying is done in late morning when the larvae congregate on the tent surface to warm in the sun. See Bulletin 504 for currently registered insecticides.

Strategy 3 is where the Spray Close Spray Extender can be useful.  Simply lift the spray can into position and you can apply spray directly into the nest.  Since the user can hold the can at close range the spray wil penetrate the next and kill the insects.