Prince George, B.C. – The tent caterpillars continue to chew their way through many of the poplar stands in the area, causing the tree to lose its leaves and  creating a slippery surface where they attempted  to cross roads and walk ways and have been run over by foot or vehicle traffic.

This is the first major outbreak of the pests since about eight years ago when a similar infestation took place.

Within the next few days, the caterpillars will take to the trees where you will notice small cocoons scattered around the branches. In the coming weeks, they will emerge as moths, grey brownish in colour and they will in turn settle on other trees where they will lay their eggs which look like clumps of sprayed on foam which will harden as the fall approaches.

There is some control that can be taken in the form of using soapy water to spray them, but with only limited results. You can also use axle grease or some other form of greasy substance to put a band around the tree and then you can add cayenne pepper which will prevent them from crawling up the tree however the flying moths may nest on these same trees and the next hatch next year may go unnoticed.

Does the attack kill the poplars, there appears to be some argument, the trees will grow some leaves back on this summer but they will be small and the tree will suffer trying to overwinter. In some cases the same trees are hit by the pests up to three years in a row which most always results in death of the tree.

There are some birds, (most birds don’t like to eat them) that prey on them, some bats eat the moths and yellow jackets are known to prey on the caterpillars. There also is an insect that lays its eggs in the egg clutches of the moth but takes several years for them to build up and by that time the caterpillars have usually moved on.

The simple translation is that we have them, most people hate them and yes we are going to have to live with them for perhaps another year or more.