Tent caterpillars

Tent caterpillars are social insects and build silk trails while travelling between their nest, feeding areas and other caterpillars on a deciduous (trees that drop their leaves yearly) trees. You can see these silken strands when the sunlight shines through an infested tree. Caterpillar moths lay their eggs in late June or early August. The eggs are laid in groups of 150 to 350 and covered in a shiny Styrofoam-like material. In the spring the eggs hatch into larvae that make shared tent webs. By late August, they cover themselves in cocoons for about 10 days when adult moth emerge and mate within one day. Tent caterpillars are usually kept in check by many predators including insect parasites, birds and rodents. Biological controls include Bacillus thuringiensis which is a selective biological insecticide that doesn’t affect other moths, butterflies, mammals, birds, and fish.

gogreenpestcontrol.ca Ladner Tsawwassen Delta B.C. Randy Bilesky

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tent-caterpillars-randy-bilesky?published=t

http://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-tent-caterpillars-1.16865684

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