Can someone tell me what this caterpillar is?

[PRF]

...and how to kill them, preferably without something too harsh? Just found them on some apple trees I planted last Fall.. Thanks !!!

 

[SPIKER]

looks like a tent caterpillar or one of the army ones (usually will be dozens of those together however.). in either case any and all means necessary to get rid of them ASAP bad on apple trees for sure.


Mark

 

[farmall 55a case]

We use to have a catalpha "not sure how its spelt" tree when I was a kid and it was always loaded with them so we just always called them catalpha worms! Not sure how you kill them! But we always used them for fishing bait! And they worked awesome! Would have better luck with them then night crawlers!

 

[smstonypoint]

Gypsy moth caterpillar?

Steve

 

[Mendonsy]

Tent caterpillar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[PRF]

I didn't notice any tents on the trees just these little 1" or so buggers.. Looking for the best and safest way to eliminate them, maybe BT?

 

[dave1949]

The tents for the Eastern Tent Cat. look like what I see here. I always have some, usually in trees near an opening like a lane where they get some light which agrees with the Wikipedia article. I ruin the tents now and then and squish a few but that is not very effective if you really need to control them.

What surprises me is that I've never seen a tent torn up by birds to feed on the caterpillars. They must taste bad or birds don't recognize the tent as a potential food cache.

 

[Billrog]

I torch the tents when I see them .

 

[PRF]

Here's where the trees are so they could be sneaking over from the boundary wall.. I'll have to go look for the tents tomorrow..

 

[dave1949]

Here's where the trees are so they could be sneaking over from the boundary wall.. I'll have to go look for the tents tomorrow..

Did you see any tents in nearby trees? They eventually abandon the tents.

The tents begin smaller at first with a bunch of little black specks inside. As the caterpillars grow the tents enlarge and you can see the caterpillars inside squirming around.