What is it om my apple tree leaves?

I just found them today. It is a lot of them, are they caterpillars? I yes, I will apply BT. If not, who they are and how to kill them? They are very tiny, may be 2 mm in length and less then .5 mm wide. Looks like they have a lot of legs and move pretty fast when disturbed.

Looks like gypsy moth caterpillars.

Bag Worms?

Your in my state the Gypsie just started coming out.

Kill! Kill!

1 Like

Ok, so if it is caterpillar, then BT should work, correct? Looks like they are not specific to apples - plum, currant also affected.

I also was told to use Bt. I hace not seen the ones you have. I gave a lot of leaf rollers, green ones on apples, plums mostly.

yeah, have those too. No point to use BT now - it will be washed away, so I used WorryFree - it seems to kill on contact. And I squished them manually on small just planted trees. They came most likely by wind - there is no way they hatched on the small trees.

I went out squishingvthem for the past few days. I felt queasy at first with bare hands. Now, it is not a problem at all.

2 Likes

My young apples have been attacked by them this week too. It is good to have the confirmation of the group that they are gypsy moth caterpillars. Apparently we are having a significant infestation in Pennsylvania this year. Also, like you, I have to wait out the rain before I can spray them with Bt. Good luck!

1 Like

I can tell you a story about "queasy " :grin:. I have wire worms in the soil so every time I find one digging, I take it with two hands and pull apart, as it is the easiest way to kill it. Ones I was planting my tomatoes, so I was holding a plant root ball already taken from the pot on left palm and small shovel I used to make a hole in right hand. When I took the dirt out, I saw the bright orange wire worm, a big one. So I put shovel down, took the worm and… my second hand was occupied. So I caught myself right before I took one end of the worm between my teeth. I don’t even know what stopped me. :grin: I didn’t fill any disgust, more like “don’t take dirty hand in the mouth” thing.

1 Like

Triazicide

Remember if your trees are flowering and you use the hard stuff your killing pollinators also.

2 Likes

That is why killing them manually comes in handy. Fortunately, I keep most of my trees short so it can be done fairly easy.

@anon89542713, from whapt I read, the Bt that is good for those caterpillars is Bt-k.

What is BT-K?

I also found that spinosad should work.

Yes, best to use BT one year then Spinosad the other. so the chances of the bugs growing resistance to one of these sprays is less of a chance.

I just google Bt spray. An article talked about different Bt formula. Bt- k targets gypsy moths. That’s all. Bt alone should be good.

1 Like

galinas, note that what you are seeing is not lots of legs, but rather the tufts of hairs that grow from each segment of the caterpillar body. There are a fewer number of actual legs.

Thanks!