Gypsy moths

[hogisland42]

Anyone being attacked by gypsy moths. They are everywhere around my shop. Birch and oak trees are bare.

[minehart gap]

I think that the invasion may have driven the gypsy moth north. A person in central PA can't process a thought these days with the noise from the cicada.

Good thing they aren't here in sugar season, I wouldn't be able to hear my tank alarm over them.

[Pdiamond]

Matt, Have you fried any of them up yet. Don't do it if you have a seafood allergy. I saw on the news they were making and serving them as bug tacos and couldn't keep up with the demand.

[DrTimPerkins]

Many years ago (mid-1990's I think) we went to Washington D.C. when our daughter was about 10 yrs old. Down on the mall near the Smithsonian there as a "Bug Fest" event going on. One of the tents was about edible bugs. Wife and I weren't real keen on the idea, but hard to say no when your young daughter is eating them and saying try them. So we had candied meal-worms, chocolate grasshoppers and BBQ grasshoppers. Not bad really...basically tasted like what they were in. The only odd thing about eating them was that the exoskeletons don't break down in saliva, so an hour later you'd feel something in your teeth and pull it out and it would be a grasshopper leg or similar. As for the cicada's....we saw them a lot in D.C. back last time they were around and will get to experience them again when we go out to visit our daughter, son-in-law and grandchild in Ohio in the next couple of weeks. Once every 17 yrs is enough I think.

[wobbletop]

We have a couple maples and birch trees in our yard that we'd miss if they were down, so it's a full time job making sure the tree bands are working and also scrapping caterpillars off and drowning them in soapy water.

We can hear them eating and pooping. It's terrible.

[ennismaple]

Eastern Ontario is in a full peak infestation of gypsy moth caterpillars this year. Last year they stripped the oaks, basswood, poplar and birch trees before moving on to the maples and even some evergreen trees. This year I'm afraid they will strip everything bare by the end of June. They get on and in everything and it sounds like a steady rain of their droppings on a cloudless day. This will definitely not help us recover from what was a terrible year for sugar content in our sap.

I know caterpillars (eastern tent, forest tent and gypsy moth) have an impact on the sugar content the next year and even years beyond but knowing some areas haven't had the infestations we've had for the past 5 years makes me wonder why everyone had a terrible year for sugar content? Is there something cyclical with the trees as well, regardless of external stressors like pests, drought and other weather events?

[minehart gap]

Matt, Have you fried any of them up yet? I tried them the last time they were here. Personally, I wasn't impressed with the taste. Not doing it again.

[wobbletop]

So I've been working combating these fcukers. I sprayed BTK on my smaller landscape trees in the spring.

I use tanglefoot around a few isolated large trees (most other trees in the forest have too much brush and I figure the caterpillars could just bypass the barrier).
However it is impossible to get any more tanglefoot since it's sold out everywhere. I scrape any caterpillars blocked by the barrier into soapy water container.

I saw on youtube that someone had used crisco in a band around the tree. I think it's vegetable based so wouldn't harm the tree. Well, the squirrels loved the stuff even with pepper added.
It does appear that even the small coating of film left on the tree does prevent the caterpillars from climbing the tree. We'll see if it lasts.

So... what are alternatives to tanglefoot? I've read about petroleum jelly or even axle grease. This wouldn't be applied directly to the tree but over a plastic base layer.

Any one want to share any solutions they've found?

[DrTimPerkins]

Just a quick note to say that if folks are organic-certified, please check with your certifying agency to see what options are available and allowed. Some of those mentioned would definitely not be.

[Bullet]

My sugar bush is infested with gypsy caterpillars and as I've read and noticed their preference are oaks and birch, but will also eat sugar maple leaves. I presume depending on the quantity of leaves they destroy on a sugar maple will result is a reduction in sap production and therefore a reduction in sap harvesting when maple syrup seasom arrives. Does anyone know the percentage effect of reduction in quantity and quality of sap due to the damage and stress to the sugar maples due de-foliage? This invasion as I read is cyclical (8 to 10 years). I hope this is their peak year, as I'd hate to think what they might do in a year worse than this. I believe there was a comparable invasion in the 90's. Just wondering if there are any statistics to reflect the damage they create for us maple syrup producers?

[TapTapTap]

I also notice that they are hard on the oaks and birch. So far, the maples seem fine.

[wobbletop]

They are after the maples here after the birches. They even eat some of the evergreen trees.

[220 maple]

In West Virginia there have been years in the past that the gypsy moths have been bad, many landowners had their forests sprayed, not maple producers, just folks trying to save the hardwoods for future timbering, we are in the Hardwood Alliance area. Some springs if it wet enough they catch a virus and die, I maybe wrong but I believe the spray had the virus in it? And before you ask I'm pretty sure the spray was invented in America! Not Wuhan China! Though it would be fun to ask Dr. Fauci what he knows about a virus killing Gypsy Moths.
Mark 220 Maple

[DrTimPerkins]

In West Virginia there have been years in the past that the gypsy moths have been bad, many landowners had their forests sprayed, not maple producers, just folks trying to save the hardwoods for future timbering, we are in the Hardwood Alliance area. Some springs if it wet enough they catch a virus and die, I maybe wrong but I believe the spray had the virus in it? And before you ask I'm pretty sure the spray was invented in America!

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/btgen.html

The most common spray has a bacterium in it, Bacillus thuringiensis, more commonly known as BT. It is a naturally occurring bacteria found in soils. While BT itself is organic, it is generally mixed with an oil carrier (to make it disperse more evenly and stick to leaves). Caterpillars eat it and are killed. Doesn't help if they are past the feeding stage, so timing is important. When numbers get high, viruses and fungi (if it's wet) are typically responsible for population collapse.

[daddy]

They are eating just about every speice both hardwood and soft wood, the white oaks don't have aleaf left on them, red oak, rock oak are almost completly stripped, poplars, birch,beech and ash are abot 80% bare . The white pines are about 75% eaten they are now into the hemlocks, spruce and whie fir. No moths have appeared yet, this is much worse the infestation in the early 70's, that alot of rock oak around here.