What can you do about tent caterpillars?
Courtesy of KOMO TV News
BOTHELL - They're back! Tent caterpillars are creeping all around invading Western Washington once again.
Some people use pesticides to kill the pesky caterpillars. But there are side effects to that. But we found there are greener ways to get rid of them.
For Ladd Smith, the battle against tent caterpillars requires hand-to-hand combat.
He prefers clippers to chemicals; a "green" approach to ridding the seasonal pest.
Experts say this year's infestation of tent caterpillars may be worse than last years.
It's a cyclical thing, the end of a seven-year build up.
"Tent caterpillars explode, then their predators explode," Smith said. "As soon as their predators get them under control, there's a huge decrease in these things and we won't even see these things in a year or two.
They spin their webs in a variety of trees -- especially fruit trees -- sometimes eating all the leaves. But Ladd says almost all trees will survive such a meal.
'The best time to do this is in the morning or the evening when its cooler and the plan is they all go back to the nest until it starts warming up and the start sending out those scouts again."
There are some simple green ways to get rid of them. This might be kind of gross, but one green way to get rid of caterpillars is to squeeze them. They don't like death, they don't like to see their friends dead, they will run away off the limb.
Ladd likes to clip them, bag them, throw them back in his truck. Then into a dumpster back at the shop and let the garbage man take them?
"It's too early in the morning, I don't think he sees them," Smith said.
If the infestation is too great, he uses a natural pesticide made from chrysanthemums -- still it's a poison.
"That's the problem with most sprays is that kill indiscriminately," Smith said.
Occasionally he'll try to feed them to a stray chicken or rooster, only if they are in the mood for a wiggly snack.
"In Harmony" in Bothell charges a minimum of $200 to clip out your caterpillars.
Their best "green" advice is to let Mother Nature take her course. Those caterpillars will be all gone in three weeks.