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In this video I will be sharing tips and tricks on how to deal with gypsy moth and caterpillar infestations. Gypsy moth and caterpillars are an extremely invasive pest, they can completely defoliate trees in a couple of weeks. We ran into this problem last year where it attacks out oak and pine trees. They can severely damage the trees, if the problem persists from year to year or if you have an unhealthy tree already, it can kill the tree. You can see in some of this footage, the caterpillars have eating holes in the leaves, portions of the needles, and the ground is even layered with portions of needles that were bitten partway off.

Starting with the tip is removing any nest of eggs. This can be removed from the tree by hand or depending on where you’re located, you are maybe able to purchase a spray. These nests can be an orangish, tan, or brown color and will be a fuzzy clump that can be found on any surface. This can be on a house wall, inside a shed, on the bark of the tree, etc. These can be disposed of in the first pot so there’s no risk of them spread to other locations. I would recommend wearing gloves. A toothbrush is a great way of cleaning the eggs of any surface, brush them into your hand, dump them into a pale and dispose of them accordingly.

Once they have hatched and are in their larvae form, this is where they’ll eat any leaves or needles from a tree. This can happen in a matter of weeks depending on the severity, we could hear them eating at night, and the ground was covered in their droppings. They do eventually fall out of the trees, to prevent them from crawling back up the trunk, very sticky tape can be used. Some people also use a cloth that is folded in such a way to trap them, however I do prefer the tape method. You’ll want a strong sticky tape, wrap it around the trunk of the tree, anywhere from 3 to 6 feet up, sticky side out and about 4 inches in width. Wrap it in an area where they cannot crawl underneath the tape. This does need to replaced every couple of weeks, be sure to check its stickiness and the number of caterpillars on the tape. They’ll get stuck in place and eventually die.

Another option is picking them off the trees. This will depend on the size of your trees, we have quite a few newly planted pine trees where they’re under 10ft. You can pick them off by hand, but be aware that some people do have allergic reactions to their hairs, so gloves would certainly be recommended or you can use a vacuum with various extensions to gain a little height on a large tree. Empty the container when need, don’t leave them in there overnight, once they die, they will produce an unpleasant odor.

As mentioned earlier, sprays can be used even in their larvae stage. Sprays can vary depending on your local regulations and laws. We’re in Ontario Canada so we have high restrictions on pesticides, therefore environmentally friendly options are only available to use such as BTK. BTK is a biological insecticide and can be purchased in a concentrated formula, then applying to a tree. Some companies offer spraying as well. Here I have a lawn sprayer, the concentrated BTK is dumped inside, as the water goes through the sprayer, it sucks up the BTK and applies it to the tree.

Once past the larvae stage and into the moth stage, their cocoons can be hand-picked as well. Or you can make a trap for them using a pheromone, I do have a video specifically for this on how to make one. There are female and male versions of the moth, males fly and the females do not. The males fly around looking for a female to breed with, however this trap uses a female pheromone to lure them. The trap is made in such a way where the male becomes trapped inside, they’ll eventually fall in the water and die.

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