I will spray this weekend for round 2, and catch trees that I didnt get the 1st time around, due to being in bloom. What kind of results are you seeing with Bt?
Mixed. Overall the numbers seem contained, but the two worse hit trees in the last few days were ones I had sprayed a week ago.
I am using Sevin and it is very effective. Not useful if someone is trying to stay organic though.
Update on spraying. Bt has proved to be quite effective given time. The trouble is that the gypsy moth caterpillars have to ingest the bacteria for it to kill them, so it is not an instant kill as some contact pesticides. Therefore, the youngest trees may not have enough green leaves to do the job before the caterpillars have done plenty of damage. But the trees are tiny enough also that squoooshing the buggers with your fingers isn’t so time consuming. The overnight killing of a baby Early Joe in 2019 has prepared me to be on the watch.
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They aren’t a pest of grapes but with these kinds of numbers we’ll have to make sure that stays true… From a grower over on Keuka lake.
Yipes! And that’s one lake over from us.
When entomology and etymology collide. The Entomological Society of America has approved a new common name for the Gypsy Moth. It is Spongy moth.
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That is a very kind way of saying that the term “gypsy moth” is now considered derogatory towards a certain group of people and is now politically incorrect.
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Sorry, but I will refer to them as Gypsy moths. I have family of Romani descent, and no, Gypsy is not a derogatory term to them, unless used in a slanderous way, such as with many other words. I feel like sometimes people go looking for a fight, when there isn’t one.
Thanks for the heads up though, I will have to look for Spongy Moth lures now.
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Did they think the moths were insulted when called Gypsy moths? I wouldn’t mind being called a Gypsy but would not like being called spongy. I wonder if they took a survey of the gypsies of the world to get their opinion?
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I don’t think what is in your grape are Gypsy moth. Gypsy moth doesn’t make webs. I think what you see is tent caterpillars and they are much easier to deal with, as they retreat to their tent at night, so you can destroy them in one shot, if you can reach the tent.
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Spongy moths use silken threads to move around when they’re small. It wasn’t necessary to treat for them as they don’t damage grapevines.
Spongy Moths | New York State Integrated Pest Management?
Details on the naming process are available here-- https://www.entsoc.org/publications/common-names/spongy-moth
" Who was involved in the renaming?
The name “spongy moth” was selected as the finalist by the steering committee of a working group formed through the Entomological Society of America’s Better Common Names Project. The working group included more than 50 scientists and professionals who work in research or forest management settings in both the United States and Canada, as well as Romani scholars working on human rights issues. There were several polls and comment opportunities that were shared broadly with stakeholder groups."
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The political correctness is out of hand IMO. A realtor friend of mine said they can no longer say “Master” bedroom. Now they must say “Main” bedroom. I swear that some people have nothing better to do than sit around and try to think up things to be offended about.
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They’re back! I was hearing reports of thousands in the area, but yesterday I saw the first black, little bugger in the orchard. It was on a three-year old Primate apple tree. I noticed it while I was adding sticky tape around its trunk. The second spotting of the day occurred while we were dining outdoors with friends that evening about three miles away. It landed on the picnic table.
They are back here as well. I will be spraying the younger trees as soon as the weather allows… fruiting trees will have to wail until petal fall, as I don’t want to mess with the pollinators, it seems I finally have a decent population again…
Of course, in our PC world I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before this thread gets shut down for still referring to them as gypsy moths instead of the new, completely unnecessary name, spongy moth.
Spraying today with BT. Since it targets moth and butterfly larva and doesn’t harm pollinators, I don’t have to wait until after petal fall. I only held off as long as I did because of severe rain forecasted for this past weekend.
I sprayed young, non bearing trees with Sevin on Saturday, as I feared that 2 more days without some type of intervention would defoliate the newly planted grafts. Now that we have another stretch of good weather, trees will be sprayed again today, this time catching all the trees, as most petals have fallen now
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While walking around our place in the Hudson Valley of NY this past weekend, I kept noticing these tiny black caterpillars everywhere - under maple trees, in the soil - and then I looked up into our fruit tree orchard. An absolute infestation of these gypsy moth caterpillars everywhere. I immediately sprayed everything with a mix of BT, pyrethrin, spinosad, and Surround, which they did not like. Hundreds of them cascaded down, held in the air by a single thread. I only managed to get a picture of two, which does not do it justice. The only trees they don’t seem to like are pears, but they went ape over the plums, pluots, some peaches and cherries. I’ve never seen anything like this. I only hope I got them in time.
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They are back – or one was. Found one, and one only, tiny black one today while inspecting for successful grafts. The good news is that buds on several grafted trees are now showing signs of green as of today and I am now prepared.
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how full did your traps end up getting?