@tbg9b, my mother would always just take a long stick and break up the nest the tent caterpillars were in as soon as it began to form. I ended up buying 2 telescopic 21 foot long pool skimmer poles for a liquid propane flaming job that I had to do on 2 paper hornet nests before the black walnut tree was safe to climb, and the poles were lightweight, inexpensive and strong. Take large diameter hose clamps (available in the plumbing department of big box home improvement stores) and strap them together and you can reach way into a tree to break those nests open.