Is anyone else in SE Texas or anywhere else dealing with tent and walnut caterpillar outbreaks right now? Holy shit. I've lived here most of my life and have only seen them like this maybe 2 times. Last year and this year has been fucking awful. Agri extension office said there not much we can do. Insecticide like Sevin will work temporarily but they
Come back in droves the next day. They are eating the hell out of my pecan and walnut trees.
Last year we were having power outages because they were congregating around the electrical transformers in huge numbers.
Does anyone have any advice or suggestions when it comes to dealing with these nasty fuckers? It's just starting here now, it's gonna get way worse before it gets better.
Here's a close up of the bastards. Can't even go outside without them getting all over you.
I live in south of France and we have to deal with those bastards too.
In my city it's been a couple of years since they started putting some kind of traps on trees, I don't know if it's really effective but there's nothing else to do sadly.
I love these little guys! I used to put them in jars when I was a kid. And I liked to pet their soft backs.
>>727632
House in Houston last year. They suck man. It seems like every 5 years or so Texas has a bad outbreak in some areas. This house made the news, but they were like this all over. It was really bad.
Tie chickens to your trees, unless they are poisonous. Alternatively use that sticky tacky red shit around the tree. Or one of those squirrel rings may work. I have only dealt with a different caterpillar, that green one with the red scent gland they protrude from their heads when threatened. Hate those fuckers.
Alternatively dig a ditch and place a tick tarp in it. Fill with caterpillar killing fluid plus water and let the fuckers March in it.
>>727653
NOPE NOPE NOPE
>>727653
>>727662
It's like a fuckin horror movie man. It's awful. I've never seen them like that before.
>>727657
I will try anything at this point so thanks for the suggestions. They get all over everything. Your car, your house, porch, garden, trees, etc. ugh!!!
This is one side of my well house this morning. It's worse now bGive it a few days, you won't even be able to see the paint. (Pic related) the cycle is supposed to last about 3 weeks to a month. When the cycle reaches its peak is when it gets really, really bad. For now they
Continue their march to Zion. They r all over my porch. Getting ready to spray and try to knock them down a bit.
>>727674
broski you gotta a shop-vac with a pic related attachment and just take your time and be thorough. when the belly is full dump them all into hole and bury the fuggers. or burn. repeat.
>>727632
Those make the best catfish bait.
I'm in SE Texas and haven't seen a single one. Are you close to water?
>>727805
Yes, the do make food bait but my god, there's too many. About 40 miles north of Houston. Close to the trinity river and Lake Livingston. One local paper put an article out about them today. They are soooo bad.
http://www.polkenterprise.com/index.php/news/1838-walnut-caterpillars-plague-county
>>727677
Dude, I have never tried or thought of this but I will try this out tomorrow on my porch.
>>727820
Good bait***
>>727662
You should see the Fall where I live. when the sun is low in the evening you can see millions of spider silk string parachutes from the ground up as high as you can see them glistening in the sun. It is really pretty, but every single one of those has a spider. Just walking 20 feet means being completely covered in spider silk and little spiders. it is kinda like this, but only 100s of times worse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htSDlXzWV-w
>>727820
Yea I'm down close to Beaumont. Livingston used to be a favorite /out/ing for me though.
To bad I'm stuck at work forever or I come catch a bunch and head for the dam.
>>727820
Not the same person - I grew up on the NE side of town kind of near the lake (Sheldon...shithole, yes, I know) and these things were always pretty heavy during the spring. We would sometimes spray for them but I can't remember what it was. The local feed store would know (better than Lowe's usually).
I'm in Clear Lake at the moment and haven't seen a one. The June Bugs are insane right now though. This is going to be one seriously "buggy" year in our neck of the woods.
>>727824
Omg, that's kinda horrifying. Lol. Are the spiders destructive?
These caterpillars/worms will do the same thing. A single web to the ground to get to other trees. It's like a wall of worms hanging from a tree.
>>727826
They've been letting alot of water out of the dam because of all the rains we've been having. However, the fishing has remained good. They put a public notice out not too long ago because elevated levels of dioxin and PCBs were found in the fish. They were telling people not to eat the blue and flathead catfish. I think the levels have gone down significantly since then. Just something you may want to check into. Hell, plenty of us just acknowledged the notice and kept on fishing.
https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/releases/20151218.aspx
>>727845
Yes, same here. We didn't get a cold enough winter to kill off a lot. Mosquitos are also bad right now.
>>727850
>Are the spiders destructive?
No, they are just doing their mass migration thing before winter. I've been wanting to get a photo/video of it for several years now, but it happens so fast and doesn't last all that long a lot of times. Other years it will last an entire week.
>They put a public notice out not too long ago because elevated levels of dioxin and PCBs were found in the fish
I miss the 1980s. My area is too polluted now to eat the fish. We get pollution from the next state over 100 miles away. And, this is a tourist wilderness spot where things are supposed to be wild and clean.
>>727632
Flammenwerfer
>>727859
Yeah, I totally understand...it's the same here sometimes. The lake is fed by the trinity river. We get flows from Dallas about 200 miles away. The trinity has a problem from Dallas wastewater. Usually it's fine but during a drought chemical concentrations in the water can get high and it starts screwing with the fish.
The recent mild spring temperatures have all species of fish moving shallow to spawn and there's some good fishing at the lake right now. Lake Livingston is a big tourist destination.
Where I live we had a weird beetle population increase. Found some inside the house so I broke out an old chemical mix that I bought years ago for anything that crawled into my place.
It dilutes in water and then you spray areas where bugs commonly go. The spray spreads into little droplets and when something pops the droplets the chemical splashes onto them. After awhile the bug will clean itself and die. Spray is supposed to last a month or two.
My friend thinks it's just cruel because it takes some time for them to die but I enjoy sleeping spider free. Also useful for wasps in a pinch.
>>727632
God is punishing you for your "Make America Great Again" hat.
What is the natural predator for these? Why aren't they being eaten ?
>>728731
Texas voted for cruz. Now Kek is punishing them for their transgression.
>>728736
They are invasive, there is no natural predator.
