Webworm caterpillars feed for six weeks on leaves while surrounding themselves with webs that protect them from predators. – Purdue University
Adult webworm moths are almost pure white, and their presence is a sign that webworms are nearby. – Anonymous
All around the homestead one can find what looks like a hanging ball of silk or spider webbing in the trees. These silken bags have nothing to do with spiders. The silken bags are provided by fall webworms. September is when the silken bags come out and are most noticeable. A lot of things change during this transition of summer to fall. Sometime between September 22 and 23 summer ends with the autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
Fall webworms build their nest at the end of branches. They usually start their new homes in late summer and the beginning of fall. Oh, how we do hope fall will come soon and bring with it cooler weather. Just a bit of breeze would be so nice. There’s a difference between fall webworms and the Eastern tent caterpillars. The Eastern tent caterpillars build their homes in the crotch of trees in the springtime. I wouldn’t be surprised if we still have a few of those as well. Some of the webworm homes are near the Black Cherry trees. Turns out webworms enjoy the leaves of the tree. They don’t seem to eat a lot of red, green, and yellow leaves. The Black Cherry tree is just now turning its colors.
AI is trying to help me, so I’ll continue to check credibility by looking out the window and walking over next to the trees with the webs in the crotch of the tree or the end of the branches. Just to verify what we are looking at, and AI would agree.
Most available information says webworms do not hurt the trees. Sometime ago I read an article about webworms suggesting if you can’t bear the site of the webworms do not set a fire as has been done in some cases. The best way to remove the webworms and their silken home is to bat it with a long stick and break open a hole. There are a number of birds who will enjoy webworms for a meal. Though there could be hundreds of webworms, the birds will work it over in time. If you choose not to disturb the nest eventually the worms will make a cocoon not to hibernate but to go into a state of “arrested development called diapause.”
The life circle of the webworm includes the larval stage lasting about six weeks, then they enter an intermediate stage and are inactive at the pupal stage as caterpillars and then their final stage is an adult moth. In an article on webworms Linda Martinson, a Blue Ridge Naturalist, pointed out the adult moth is a small white moth. Since I leave the outdoor lights on all night, I’ve noticed a number of small white moths flitting around. Looks like they have found a comfortable home from egg, larva, pupa, and adult. What would life be like had we no nature?
Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].
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