Eastern tent caterpillar egg sac

For years I had been thinking the eastern tent caterpillar egg sacs were some beneficial insect. I caught them in the act of coming out today so stand corrected. Given my ignorance I thought I would post a picture in case anyone else has missed them (from naturecloseups.com)

The caterpillars are really easy to kill tis time of year, they are tiny and while spraying oil you can remove the webbing and nail them. But later on they can cause a lot of damage if not caught.

Another bug I have been weeding out while doing spring spraying is bagworms. There must be a wild tree in the neighborhood with a bad infestation of them because they have been showing up in my orchard the last few years. If you get them early its easy to eliminate the pest, but later on its a pain.

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The moth is malacosoma americana that lays those eggs. This link has pictures http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Malacosoma+americana&guide=Moth&cl=US/TN/Chester. The new members might want to know what happens if the eggs are not removed. The tent catepillar damage can be seen in this thread Fruit Insects and Diseases identification

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