Detailed information on American Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum)

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RESORT2ME

BATTLEBORO, NC | May 2013 | Neutral

Today, I found one of these caterpillars on my Indian Hawthorn shrubbery.

4 of the 9 the shrubs are partially defoliated and I have been wondering why. I'll be searching for more caterpillars.

In looking up several references I ran across this interesting article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15019520

There were two tents in the crab-apple tree in early April. A spraying of melatheon stopped their activity. That also stopped the blossoms. They shriveled up. NO BEAUTY this year from that tree.

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PriscillaKing

Gate City, VA | May 2013 | Neutral

I was tempted to give them a "praise" because nobody else did. They're mostly harmless, although squishy, and their social lives are sort of interesting. One of my sisters even manages to hypnotize them into perching in decorative positions on her clothes. This has to be the only caterpillar anybody would think of using as an ornament! I would never consider spraying to poison tent caterpillars. Too easy to get rid of them before they hatch. Or, failing that, take a stick to them.

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LadyAshleyR

Oakland, MD | October 2009 | Negative

I remember these pests in the cherry trees that used to stand next to my dad's house quite well.
I also remember how all the kids loved to play with them... or step on them...
And as long as I live I will never forget not only how destructive they are, but their disgustingly unique smell.

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heabears

Spanaway, WA (Zone 8a) | May 2009 | Neutral

I often hear about people burning them out. I have two stories: This happened when I was a girl, I am 60 now. My mother picked up a few branches with the tents attached, that dad had cut from the apple tree. She had a fire going in the fireplace, in the house, a good hot fire as I remember ! The tents were only small, and only 2 or 3 tents, sooooooo in the fireplace they went !! Well several hours later HAIRLESS, and quite alive caterpillars came crawling out Mom killed them then, but the fire had not !
When I was 35 my husband and I lived on a old dairy farm that had an old apple orchard. He was from NJ and new to Washington country life. He had managed to get all the tent caterpillars out of the trees except for one tent. It was at the top of a 30 ft. tree. When he was s... read more

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nancyjorg2

River Forest, IL | June 2008 | Negative

These caterpillars totally stripped my weeping cherry tree and several Annabelle Hydrangeas. I caught a nest in my weeping crab apple before they could do damage there too. After spraying last weekend, I'm finding new leaf growth on the hydrangeas and it looks like little buds are starting to form on the totally naked weeping cherry. This all happened while away for just one week! These are terrible pests in the garden and the worst I've seen in 10 years.

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WaterCan2

Eastern Long Island, NY (Zone 7a) | May 2008 | Negative

Found one on some honeysuckle vines and took some pics of him, found out how destructive they are after I had already let him go... near my garden! Ugh!!

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jnklz

Fairfax, VA | May 2008 | Negative

We've always had a few tents' worth of these things, but this year, they're everywhere. Eating everything! An entire army of them is bivouacked in a tree in front of the house, located within easy reach of a weeping cherry tree. One day while mowing the lawn a couple of weeks ago, I noticed the entire tree was covered with silk trails -- and piles of the pernicious pillars themselves. Hundreds of them! After they ate the leaves off my rose bush, I decided I had to take action. So I consulted an Ortho book, purchased some liquid sevin and a sprayer, and doused the trees as far up as I could spray. The herd seems somewhat less numerous now (but then, nothing they like has any leaves left). But the previous commenter who remarked about their propensity to cause rashes seems to be on to ... read more

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aggscott

Wilkes Barre, PA (Zone 6a) | May 2008 | Negative

I walk daily in the woods around my home and these guys are everywhere! They are eating all the leaves and I think this year will be the worse in a long time..WOW they are awful!

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raudenbush

Fredericksburg, VA | April 2008 | Negative

I recently had a very spectacular run-in with these caterpillars. Apparently, while they are not poisonous, their little spines can irritate sensitive skin. My garden is a National Wildlife Certified Backyard Habitat and I don't use any insecticides so when the caterpillars had finished eating my crab apple tree (which I had decided to take out anyway), and ventured out into the rest of my garden, I attempted to simply pick as many as I could off everything and drown them in a bucket of water. That part worked great, but in the process I was using my bandana to wipe persperation off my face and neck with the same glove I used to pick the caterpillars, thereby transferring the spines to my tender skin. I'm currently on a second round of steriods and after two full weeks the rash is finally ... read more

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yotedog

Raleigh, NC | April 2008 | Neutral

The caterpillars come out approximately mid-April in my zone 7b garden, and are quite destructive. My child loves them, and can easily find 20 or so at a time at their peak...their favorite garden plants include roses (especially buds), lettuce, fruit tree leaves/flowers and pretty much anything else that's coming up! Not fond of iris or other thick-skinned leaves.

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onewish1

Denville, NJ (Zone 6b) | May 2007 | Negative

I just learned how destructive these little buggers are... but I was fascinated how the little hole in the top of the tent was the entrance and the caterpillars must have been tending to the larva inside and you can see how each layer they pass through to get to the lower levels.... caterpillar condo!

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DiOhio

Corning, OH (Zone 6a) | January 2007 | Negative

Like stated above, the larva to this moth is a serious defoliating pest.

Host Plants: Many trees and shrubs, especially apple, cherry trees, flowering crabapples and other members of the rose family.

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duckmother

North Little Rock, AR (Zone 7b) | August 2006 | Negative

We have two black cherry trees and both had bad bug tents this spring. They were too high in the tree to torch but when they came down the tree...lookout. We had hoped that our ducks would eat them but they did not like the caterpillars either. So, we found other means...mostly a shoe!

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melody

Benton, KY (Zone 7a) | August 2006 | Negative

The caterpillars are the destructive part of the life cycle in this species. The small brown moths do not have functional mouth parts...living only to breed.

They deposit their eggs in fruit or nut trees, and the caterpillars live in a communal web or tent...emerging in the day to methodically strip foliage from the host tree, returning at dark to the safety of the silken web.

They are destructive enough to actually kill the tree. I take a butane torch to any I find in my trees...makes quick work of them, and I've not used any chemicals that would endanger good bugs or birds.

American Tent Caterpillar

Malacosoma americanum

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