Anyone else dealing with gypsy moth caterpillar devastation this year?

I’m glad they are going to stop at the Va border. Phew, I don’t need anymore work.

 

EODMSgt that article you referenced is correct here. I have no oaks but my yellow birch are covered in the moths.

 

Our white birch trees have been hit hard (predominant species of birch around here). Since they're naturally just a weaker tree, and it doesn't take much to kill them, it wouldn't surprise me if I end up with a lot more white birch in my stacks next year due to the caterpillars.

Unfortunately the EAB is almost here as well. Were not in an alert area yet, however I expect we will be in the next couple years. Sad that all these invasive species are destroying our natural forests.

 

Well @&*$#. Looks like it might be another bad year with the #^%&@ caterpillars. Will know shortly as they hatch this month. Based on research, if you can count 50 egg masses within 500 feet, then they estimate there are 1,000 egg masses per acre, forecasting heavy defoliation (each egg mass can have over 1000 eggs). I easily counted 50 before I even hit 500 feet. I scraped more than that just off my foundation, deck, and sheds. I'm hoping that the wet weather may have spread the pathogen that kills the caterpillars, but only time will tell. This would be the third year of the caterpillars and I have already lost several hemlocks, a couple cherry trees, at least one apple, several white birch, and I have many red oaks that aren't blooming (a bad sign). Mother nature can be cruel at times. Yes, more firewood, but not how I want to get it.

 

No sign here.....yet.

The trees here got hit pretty hard a few years ago and many didn't survive. The bug population must have crashed at that point.

I know your area has been hit hard for a few years in a row now. Good luck!

 

That stinks. Nothing here that i can see. Well look on the bright side....they'll make some nice firewood for ya!

 

True, but not the way I want to get firewood (there's always enough dead and down to scrounge annually anyway). I would much prefer that the oaks (and other trees) around my property live long and healthy lives because once they're gone, nothing will grow to those heights again in my lifetime. Plus, last year we had more forest fires in the region than I ever recall. I have no data that shows this was because of the two-year defoliation, however if this third year is a significant hit by the caterpillars, countless acres of trees will more than likely be killed off resulting in a major fire threat for the region. It's mother nature, so nothing you can do about it, but it is a cause for concern.

 

We had them really bad in 2006, they were going to spray but it was late for that so they sprayed in 2007. We haven't had anything like in your picture since they sprayed.

2006 when they were bad, it was horrible, if you walked or worked in the woods you would have them all over you.

Here's the info I saved, Mary Rutley was correct in stopping the spraying in 2006.

Colton Spraying a No-Go: Tent Caterpillars: Town Won't Appeal Ruling Blocking Action - By Benjamin Ray, Watertown Daily Times, June 14, 2006. (Not available online but the paper's website providescontacts). 370 people in the Town of Colton signed a petition asking the Town Council to spray BT (bacillus thuringiensis) on town trees."The Town Council met Sunday to approve Tuesday's spraying, which would have been done by Duflo Spray Chemical of New Bremen. Duflo originally would have received $25,000 to spray the town, but requests poured in to spray adjacent areas such as Higley Flow, bumping the price up to $35,000."...."Mary S. Rutley, an entomologist and former professor at SUNY Potsdam, filed an order to show cause in court Monday, and state Supreme Court Justice David Demarest issued a restraining order stopping the town from spraying trees with bacillus thuringiensis.." Rutley, John I. Green and William L. Romey advised against spraying because it was too late in the season but Mrs. Rutley has offered to to work with the council and local residents on spraying for caterpillars in 2007. Phone number for the Town of Colton is 315-262-2824. Henry R. Ford is the Supervisor. Town Board member Grace J. Hawley was also quoted in the article. (See Contacts for the Town of Colton.) See also 99 News Headlines for Tuesday, 6/13/06 "Entomologist Mary Rutley, who filed an article 78 challenge, argues the town did not follow the State Environmental Quality Review Act by not holding a separate public meeting on the review and simply passing the motions to go ahead and spray. Town Supervisor Hank Ford is furious with the decision, as he believes a petition signed by more than 300 town residents supporting the sprayins is a mandate from a majority of the people in the town."

 

NH doesn't spray for the caterpillars so we're on our own. I sent an email to a state rep with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) inquiring about the resiliency of our red oaks after caterpillar defoliation but just got a boilerplate response telling me to contact some other people (typical government employee). I've read that some trees can take up to ten years to recover from heavy defoliation, but at what point are they considered unsalvageable? I have several tall old red oaks around the house that have been hit hard the last two years by caterpillar defoliation, and they are not even budding yet (while other red oaks are almost leafing out). I don't like leaving standing dead trees near the house with all the high winds we are susceptible to. And I think that if we do end up with another bad year of caterpillar blight, many of those that didn't leaf out this year will be a lost cause.

Just ticks me off that there hasn't been one mention from anyone with the state or on the news of the potential for another year of devastating defoliation around here and the damage it could cause.

I just saw the first ones hatching here yesterday. Here we go again.

 

Heard back from a forestry field specialist at the University of NH and they are going to come up Friday morning to take a look at the oaks. They know the area, and they are familiar with the defoliation we went through the last couple years but want to take a look at the trees before giving any advice. They did confirm my fear that any conifers that were stripped by the caterpillars last year aren't coming back. Hate to lose those trees but guess I'll be adding some more hemlock to my SS wood. If the red oaks are toast, I won't have to worry about firewood for a long time (there are a lot of oaks that look dead). Also, looks like it's pointless to plant a garden this year (again). No sense in planting veggies just to feed the caterpillars.

 

Why don’t ya have your trees sprayed ?

 

I'm not sure if our town would do spraying again, the last time some people never wanted to spray because it wasn't their land yet this whole area is wooded, not only the woods but the houses on the water.

Since trees help out the environment it does surprise me that the town or state isn't doing a thing about it, how much money will be lost from no leaf peepers showing up in the fall.

 

I live in the middle of the woods so it would be cost prohibitive and basically pointless. They could spray my five acres of woods but the caterpillars from the thousands of acres of woods around me would quickly replenish whatever was killed off. We had around 55,000 acres of defoliation last year in my area, so spraying my property would be ineffective.

 

They were worried about the impact on the leaf peepers during foliage season last year here as well but thankfully many of the deciduous trees got their second leafing in by late summer, so it wasn't a total loss. Driving around, it seems like my immediate area was one of hardest hit. I see so many oaks and birch that are completely bare.

 

The year we had them wasn't much for fall colors, I'm sure we'll have them again before my time is up. We hated to open the garage door we had them so bad, I'm not sure how many times we picked them off the cat and our clothes but we were so sick of them we pretty much stayed inside.

 

Well, your kinda right.
My property in Central Pa. Is being sprayed as I type this..
At that location I only have 4 acres, I had to organize all of the neighboring property owners to spray and pay also.. Which they did..
It was about 60 bucks an acre. Money well spent !!

 

We spent a lot of time in the summers in the Lakes Region of NH. I remember on really bad year with caterpillars sometime in the 80’s. It was amazing the damage they caused.

 

Those critters will always be referred to as gypsy moths, for as long as I'm around.

However, for the record, thems that concern themselves with such matters, had decided a different name was warranted.

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Spongy moth (Lymantria dispar dispar, formerly known as European gypsy moth) is a significant nonnative forest pest in the United States and is under quarantine in the Eastern part of the country.
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From: USDA APHIS | Spongy Moth