What is the life cycle of the forest tent caterpillar?
What does the damage look like? Larvae feed initially on the opening buds, later consuming parts of or whole leaves of broad-leaved deciduous trees and shrubs. During high populations, forest tent caterpillars can completely strip trees and will then feed on the understory shrubs and other vegetation. Top of Page Will my tree die? Healthy trees grow back their leaves 2-3 weeks after defoliations. However, after repeated defoliation, trees may be more susceptible to secondary insects and diseases. Top of Page How can I control forest tent caterpillars? On smaller trees and shrubs, an effective means of controlling the forest tent caterpillar is pruning or breaking off the egg masses on the twigs and disposing of them in the garbage. This is best done in fall or in early spring when there are no leaves on the trees and the egg masses are most visible. After hatching, young colonies of larvae can be pruned off or squashed while they are resting in clusters on the main stem, especially in
