Caterpillar Season
Tuesday April 29, 2008
For gardeners east of the Rockies, it’s just about time for tent caterpillar nests to start appearing in the trees. As unsettling as it is to see a squirming mass of fuzzy caterpillars in the branches above you, Debbie Hadley, About’s Guide to Insects, says not to panic, because since tent caterpillars “...appear in early spring and complete their life cycle by summer, the host trees have time to produce more leaves after being defoliated.” However they look an awful lot like gypsy moth caterpillars, which don’t build nests but can be even more destructive, so it pays to know what you’re really dealing with. Debbie gives some tips on identifying which caterpillar you have and dealing with the problem.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti (2008) licensed to About.com, Inc.
Comments
the caterpillar or worm ate all my lelves and jalepino on my plant, now I’m finding them on my tomatoes
Are you saying it’s this same caterpillar or could it perhaps be a large green one? The tomato horn worm is a pinkie finger sized worm that loves tomato and pepper leaves. He’s so large, the only way to get rid of him is to remove him from the plant. But he’s the same color as the leaves, so you have to look hard to find him. There’s a photo of him here. The next photo is of a hornworm being parasitized by a braconid wasp, its natural predator.