Meant to post this as Persimmons, used the wrong Houzz account. Now that's something bothersome...

You may still be able to delete the whole thread and start over. I'll post again if you do. :-)

At any rate, last year, after a really difficult, winter weather wise and a lot of low temperatures before we had any snow cover, I found a lot fewer winter moths than in the past. And when spring is delayed, I always think, oh, they've gone away, but no, they just show up later. But last year, one whole tree hardly had any winter moths. I hope this year will be the same.

The first UMass Extension Landscape Message of 2015 has just been posted and there's one note in the Southeast Region (Hanson) report.

"Winter Moth will be the next big pest to be on the lookout for. Winter
moth eggs usually hatch around the second week of April, sometimes
earlier in warm, mild winters. According to staff at Dr. Elkinton’s
UMass Amherst, MA lab, “2014 winter moth caterpillar numbers were pretty
low and most of the statewide defoliation was coastal (North Shore and
coastal Cape Cod). Monitoring in the fall of 2014 showed “adult counts
and egg-laying was up throughout the region, but likely stands out
because 2014 spring numbers were so low.” For spring 2015, Dr.
Elkinton’s lab will continue to monitor egg hatch. We don’t know if the
cold temperatures had any negative effect on winter moth eggs, which are
fairly cold-tolerant. Dr. Elkinton’s lab is conducting research on
this. Stay tuned."

Claire