Hmm, I was at a friends house yesterday and noticed a cocoon on their porch that reminded me of gypsy moth type. Up in Ct. we had them every year, some years worse than others. Didn't think they were a problem in NC.
Have you googled gypsy moth north carolina?

I don't believe they are in NC yet.... could be wrong though. When they made it to PA when i was a teen it was a huge deal and was all over the media. It was one of the nastiest things i've ever seen/lived through. That's coming from someone who raises caterpillars, so no, they don't normally bother me. Anything on that scale is horrendous, though. I'd have thought we'd have heard about it if they'd reached this far south.

"Gypsy Moth Slow the Spread" is right in Raleigh..

I lived in NJ for 21 years and I remember the devastation they caused. And the caterpillers were everywhere, then so were the moths. I also remember they had planes fly over and spread something to get rid of them. All the leaves on the trees everywhere died, it looked just as bad after that. These caterpillers look just like the ones I remember and if they're not, they have to be related.

Tammy

Pics of the critters. They're everywhere! :(
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I just want them off my roses, I have enough problems with the rose slugs.

Tammy

That's a tent caterpillar or something similar..it looks awfully dark. Does it have sky blue spots on its sides?
The gypsy moth caterpillars are spiky hairy. Look around through the nearby trees and you're sure to find the tent nest.

if you search tent caterpillars on this forum, there were 2 more threads this spring with info in them. Basically by the time they're roaming around they aren't eating anymore and so even though they're gross they aren't hurting your roses (unless they made a nest in them, which is possible- they like the malus family and roses are related.)

Goodness gracious I still remember the smell of gypsy moths burning in the summer heat. The next door neighbor used to use a blow torch and burn them off the sides of his hickory nut trees. Ugh. Early summer I did not want to walk in our side yard they were so thickly on the ground and in the trees and hanging in threads down from the trees. I remember them being around for about 7 years when I was a kid growing up in Connecticut. They still creep me out. Adele

I recall when we moved down here from Ct. bringing the gypsy moth preventative paper tape and Tanglefoot with us but never needing it. Uptown Charlotte uses that stuff every year for the other worms(canker?) but we never got them in Matthews.
If you look at the maps on some of the gypsy moth sites it looks likely gypsy moths are in our future.