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They're baaackkk....tent caterpillars

Posted by Erika Barthelmess,
North Country explorer from Canton, NY
May 24, 2017 —

I'm reminded of the huge outbreak of tent caterpillars we had in 2005 - and here we are building to that 12 years later. These guys prefer maple trees - at the moment, most of the sugar maples along the walk between Appleton Arena and Park St on the SLU campus have a bunch of them ensconced, and some of the trees have been completely defoliated by their feeding. Troublesome for the trees - another big stress after last summer's drought.

Comments

Image of Ron Tavernier

Ron Tavernier

I remember huge outbreaks as a kid. We had a lot of maple trees in our neighborhood and my father took it personally. He'd cut the nests off from branches and pile them in the burn barrel before adding gas and torching them all. I can still remember the smell.

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