How Do You Identify Eastern Tent Caterpillars?
There are three species of tent caterpillars, all of which can cause a lot of damage to your trees. Here’s how to identify the Eastern Tent Caterpillar, which prefers wild cherry, apple and crabapple trees, but will also eat ash, birch, blackgum, redgum, willow, witch-hazel, maple, oak, poplar, cherry, peach and plum trees. Look for tent-caterpillar eggs in the winter months, when early identification can take place. You will find the eggs encircling small twigs on the trees in shiny, ring-like masses about 3/4-inch long. Look for small larvae in the spring, when the eggs hatch. The larvae will begin to construct a web-like tent in the forks of branches. The tent will become larger as the larvae develop. Identify the larvae when they come out of the nest to feed. They are primarily black with a white line down their back. On their sides are blue spots between two yellow lines. Look on tree trunks, fences or buildings for the whitish cocoons where the larvae pupate in late spring and ea
