Bagworm pic and information

[Dan F]

Attached is a picture of what bagworms look like at this time of year. This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago, around here, they are bigger now, but 60 miles north, they are probably about this size right now.

This is just information only, for those that don't know what they look like and how to control them.

Bagworms are typically found on evergreen trees/shrubs. They especially like spruce, juniper, and white pine (at least around here). They will eat about anything though, including deciduous trees (right Dad F?).

Control is usually acheived by spraying. Sevin is a good product for homeowners to try. Probably any insecticide that works by ingestion should work fine. I would avoid a contact type of insecticide like Malathion (did I spell that right?), since most of the time the bagworms are in their "bag" and that particular type of chemical may not be very effective. A good local garden center should be able to reccomend a chemical treatment, if you don't know what to look for.

About the only other method that is effective (usually in the fall or for very isolated and small outbreaks) is picking the little boogers off by hand and squishing them!

These things can defoliate a large portion of a tree in a year if left unchecked. Scout early, scout often!


Dan

 

[Treeman14]

That's incredible Dan.












It looks just like a Bic pen!

 

[mquinn]

much less toxic spray: bacillus thuringiensis (var. kurstaki) - known as Bt . Dan's right, they have to ingest whatever you apply - contact is no good - can't penetrate the bags. get GOOD coverage of the foliage, and don't do it right before it rains. also, don't think it hasn't worked if you still see them alive two or three days later - they die slowly, but they stop feeding right away, and just hang there, so they're not doing any further damage. at any rate, even spraying the more toxic chemicals, they won't necessarily drop off the plants, as they often wrap a temporary cord around the twig while they're not on the move.

and thus, they may still have to be picked off if you don't want to see them there. so, hand picking is an excellent option and very doable if you don't have too many infested plants (or too heavily infested - but then that just takes more time) or they aren't too high to reach.

 

[Menchhofer]

Over the past few years we have used injections into the trees for bagworms. As the worms eat the needles, they die.
Very effective... no overspray of chems or waste.

 

[Dan F]

Menchofer-
What injections have you used? We were made aware of the ACECAP insert, but didn't know how effective it would be.

How big were the treated trees?

Treeman-
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The pen was added to show size, I didn't mention that, did I? If you look closely at the pic, you can see where the little sucker has started eating the end of the needle. Imagine hundreds or thousands of those on a 10-20' evergreen. Then you can get an idea of what they are capable of!

The worms (if you are interested enough to look at them) can not only be somewhat hard to pull off of the affected area due to the silk cord wrapped around the needle, they can be hard to pull out of their bag without squishing them.


Dan

 

[Dan F]

To give a little better idea on what they are capable of eating...

We have the maintenance contract for 4 bank branches. On Thursday, I was at the main branch. While there, I saw bagworms munching happily away on: a bald cypress, a Crimson King maple, a burning bush, 2 different crabapples, and bayberry bushes!

On Friday, I was at another branch about 20 minutes away from the main branch and witnessed even more destruction: another Crimson King, 3 crabapples, 2 spireas (I think Anthony Waterer), burning bushes, a wiegiela, and get this - siberian iris!

Notice none of the plants/trees that they were munching on were evergreen....


Dan

 

[M.D. Vaden]

The BT or Malathion may be the better choices.

Might depend on bee populations - or beekeeping in the area.

If I recall correct, one bee can bring enough Sevin residue back on it, to wipe out a significant portion of an entire hive.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Soap at high pressure will get through the bags. Maybe blow them off the tree

ACECAP sucks, the holes are too big, deep and you need to space them every 6-8 inches spiraling up the trunk.

Maugette is a bit better, though translocation is lousey on most conifers with any systemic.

Is Merit labled for them?

Fall webworm has started out early up here, seeing lots of nests.

 

[Dan F]

MDV-
Malathion won't work. It's a contact insecticide, and it is hard to get it to contact the bagworms. For homeowners, Sevin is probably the best. Most areas around here are fairly beehive free, due to mites which have cut down on the number of hives in the last 10-15 years...

We use Talstar at work. Works very well for all sorts of bugs. Bagworms, Jap. beetles, even yellow jackets (used it for that purpose at the bank on Thursday, wiped out a nest inside of 1/2 hour!).

Talstar, as I understand it, is only available for commercial use. Probably because it is fairly expensive, but I'm not sure.

JPS- Dad and I were wondering about Merit's effectiveness tonight. He mentioned that it had kept Jap. beetles off of some elm varieties that had been planted on campus this year. Said it was obivious which ones had been treated and which weren't. Had a salesman (from Lesco) tell me a couple of months ago that Merit either wasn't labeled for anything over 8' tall (ornamental) or wasn't effective for anything over 8' tall, I don't remember which....?


Dan

 

[DadF]

Dan- Those elms were in the 2.5-3.0" dia range with heights anywhere from 12-16'. They were also just planted in the last year so still had fairly small intensive root systems.

 

[jen711]

I have a worm that is in my garage storeroom that my pest control people are saying is a bagworm. In all honesty it looks like maggots, but that's been ruled out. They're there everyday, even after the guys came out and sprayed. Do you have any idea what else this could be?

 

[DadF]

Jen-pics would really help but at least a better description-size? color? length? etc.

 

[jen711]

I found out what they were. They're Indian Meal Moth Larvae. I also found the source and got rid of it. They were living in a bag of bird seed. Thanks for your help though!

 

[DadF]

Fry them critters up with a little butter they don't taste too bad-just ask Tom Turpin up here at Purdue

 

[Elmore]

acephate (Orthene) is effective.