A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Tent catterpillars, bad or good?

When I was out finishing my weeding today I noticed what looked like a spider web in the small coniferous tree that is in the middle of my garden. I then noticed that there were little worm looking things in it and a string of them were leading themselves down towards one of my tulips. A google search points to them being tent catterpillars. Do I need to get rid of these or should I just let them be? If I should get rid of them what is the best way to do so in a garden that has never had chemicals? Thanks a lot.

I found this,, I just read an article how the pacific northwest it experiencing them early this year
you can get rid of them organically,, as they do extensive damage to plants,,
An article from e How
"Use bacillus thuringinesis, or BT, spray to control a tent caterpillar infestation. BT sprays are completely organic, and will not harm humans or pets. Some trade names for this organic tent caterpillar control chemical are DiPel insecticide spray and Foray XG organic spray.
Step2
Remove the tent caterpillar nests with a brush and water mixed with organic soap. Dip the scrub brush in the soap water and remove the caterpillar nest from any accessible tree locations.
Step3
Spray the trees and garden area with a garlic barrier solution. You can by a concentrated form of this solution from most home and garden stores. Dilute the concentrate with water and place the solution in a sprayer to apply it to the trees and garden.
Step4
Water the plants and trees with a neem oil solution. Combine the neem oil with dish soap and water as directed. Finally, you can mix the solution into your irrigation system or spray it directly on plants and trees to control tent caterpillars organically."

when I see webbing with worms or caterpillars I remove the webbing also and spray plants down with just a table spoon of dishsoap in a large sprayer of water and about 1/4 bottle of Hot sauce,, It seems to work

That seems like an awful lot of work for what looks like a small nest. Guess I know what's going on my shopping list for next time I'm at the grocery store. Thanks for the info!

The above was for a mass amount of tent Caterpillars..
I'd personally just remove the webbing and spray down with soap water and hot sauce, since it's just a small area, :wink:

Thanks, I'll try that. Why the hot sauce though? How did you come up with that? Just wondering because it sounds odd to me and if I buy hot sauce it won't get used for anything else.

A couple of years ago I had caterpillars bad well all of the Dallas fort worth area did, I can't remember the kind it was But they were massive white caterpillars On TV they said to use the hotsauce, lemon joy or ivory, and a water sprayer,, fill the sprayer up first then the lemon joy or ivory dish soap then the hot sauce and shake,I was supposed to let it sit over night but I didn't.
BUT the was ONLY if you had JUST started seeing them,, Fortunately I did so I used it and it worked,, they came back as well in the entire area towards the end of the summer and I used it again and it worked,
Mites and other insects: Mix two tablespoons of hot pepper sauce or cayenne pepper with a few drops of Ivory soap into a quart of water. Let stand overnight, then stir and pour into a spray bottle and apply all over plant and leaves,. Shake spray container frequently during use.

I didn't measure ,,,, well I did kind'a .. Uhhhh approximately ,,

We had a pretty bad infestation of them in our county the past few summers, and while we thankfully only had a few "tents" in our yard, we cut the end of the branch that there were on and disposed of it in a heavy duty black garbage bag.

I have heard others say to burn the tent once you've cut it down, because the caterpillars can still escape or grow once you've removed them. I prefer not to use any chemicals in my yard, so the bag worked for me, and we are not supposed to have any "open fires" here in our county. I imagine that wherever the garbage men take the bags to, could get an infestation also once the bags are "ground" in the truck.

We have thousands of them here, mainly because wild cherry trees are everywhere, and that's their favorite. Once they turn to moths the damage stops, and I always see the leaves they eat grow back in a month or so, they never kill/harm the tree.

The birds eat them too, so be careful about insectisides!

By me they look like this:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/477088736_9ad045d7d2.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/2632479651_fda3d3ae5a.jpg?v=0