squish as many as you can ..............those are nasty....where are you so far i gave only seen one in GP but heard they are coming don't know any tricks yet

That is one of my worst nightmares. Not only are they destructive they are ugly and yucky . Had a patch of sting nettles covered in what I thought looked like them. Out came Dr Doom. I can just see them destroying all my plants . Like I said it is a nightmare on it's way.

Army worms! You can't do a thing with them. There was a parasitic fly released maybe 15-20 years ago that was supposed to get rid of them. Not sure if it worked, but we haven't had a bad infestation in quite a few years now. (Hope i didn't jinx it! Yikes!). Last time, it was so bad that a person just couldn't go outside or you were covered with them. They crawled up the sides of the house and defoliated many trees and plants. They all recovered, but it set them back.

So sorry! :(

Yuck!

I know this will only help with a few, but when I see one of their "tents" in a tree, I cut off the branch and immediately put it in a bucket with hot soapy water before the worms can figure out what's going on.

Also, depending on how grossed out you get, a pair of work boots are great for stomping on them.

Good luck.

Is there a difference between Tent caterpillars and Army worms. Growing up in Northern Ont we called them Army worms and out here in Alberta . they call them tent caterpillars.

I heard they go in a ten year cycle. I would suggest sucking them up with a hand vac, but then that leaves you with the problem with disposal...They give me the heebie jeebies.

If that were my yard, I would resort to chemical. Malathion or Sevin is supposed to work but it's toxic to bees and needs to be kept far away from anything anyone is going to eat.

Army worms and tent caterpillars are different. The ones here in Alberta are generally Forest Tent Caterpillars and have a blue stripe on either side of their body and white spots down their back. Eastern Tent Caterpillars have a white stripe down their back with a row of blue spots on both sides. They are related and both are often called Army worms. There are others considered army worms as well and are colored differently, although, they usually prefer grass crops as compared to tent caterpillars who prefer leaves of trees and other deciduous plants.
IMO, all of them are just awful to deal with but the birds like them......as did I when I was a caterpillar collecting kid! :)

As for control.....maybe a soapy solution like Safers, sprayed on the plants will help. :)

Ginny

Dish soap definitely is helping but because there are thousands it is very hard to control. When it rains they stay off the plants but just hide. I've actually heard they love water just not warm. I've spent hours removing them from my 3yr old pink miss Canada lilac trees that I've been excited about

That's awful. We had them about 8 years ago, but not that thick. Are you in Peace country by any chance? I have a friend who lives near Peace River who's been complaining about them.

They won't be around much longer will they?

I remember one year having them bad enough that I paid someone to mow our lawn. I wasn't going out there !

So far they are staying north of me I have been looking out my window daily for them. I wonder how far south of Dunvegan they are? and what direction they are moving.