Bagworms prefer juniper, arborvitae, spruce, pine, and cedar but also attack deciduous trees. Treatment for bagworms should be started in May as that is when they start to hatch.
They survive the winter as eggs (sometimes 300 or more) inside bags that look like browning needles which serves as a cocoon for last year's females. The eggs hatch in late May into June when the tiny larvae crawl out to feed.
They feed for about six weeks swelling up the cocoon as they grow. Older caterpillars can strip needles off of evergreens or deciduous tree leaves.
What is the best method to get rid of them?
While birds do feed on them, sometimes the bagworm cocoon is hard to see under existing branches leaving the rest of the work up to you to remove. The most effective treatment for removal is handpicking them off your trees and discarding the egg sacks. If you have a large amount or see them higher branches of your trees you can use an insecticide that is effective on bagworm larvae. Treatment of this nature is best done in May while the larvae is still young.
1 comments:
i have them on my arborvitae. i never saw them until just now when my tree appeared dead and stripped of all leaves. i thought it was from this 100+ weather we've had. we sprayed them with spectracide that says it kills them, but some started crawling up a really old hickory tree and we couldnt get to them.
any suggestions? will they kill this tree next year ?
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