Now is the time to find bagworms! The bags start off as very small silken containers on the underside of the stems on the trees. Most often the bagworms infest Leyland Cypress, Japanese maple and spruce (all varieties). Good description; the bags look like small pine cones! The bags are very difficult to tear open: they are silk!
How do you deal with bagworms? Some people simply pull the bag off and drop
the bag into a container of soapy water. This is not the best way! When the bag
is pulled off, there is a thread of the silk that holds the bagworm on the branch
that is left behind. The silken thread will stay behind and will girdle the tip of the branch: this silk will cause the tip to die off! There are therefore two problems
caused by the bagworm: the foliage that is eaten by the worm (from now until
mid-August) and the silken thread that is left behind on the tip of the branch
that can girdle the tip and cause the tip to die off. If you are going to do the job
yourself you must cut the bag off with a knife or use shears. You should never
just pull the worm off of the branch. Then drop the bag into the soapy water!!
You will have to do this for several weeks as the bags will be of varying size and
will continue to increase in size. The best time to deal with bagworms has long
passed: a dormant oil spray applied in late winter or very early spring will keep
the worms at bay.
You will also need to clean up the area under the infected trees and dispose of
the debris. Well, just what do you do if the tree is large and heavily infected or
there are just too many trees for you to deal with? There are sprays available,
most use Bt, a bacteria spray harmless to pets and children. Tall trees or too
many infected trees to deal with? No sprayer? Or no sprayer strong enough?
Contact us for assistance, we can spray now and offer you a tree and shrub plan to prevent future problems.
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