

THE FALL WEBWORM 



J. S. HOUSER 



During August and September the ugly webs of the common 

 fall webworm are conspicuous on orchard, forest, and ornamental 

 trees and shrubbery. It is recorded as feeding on over 120 differ- 

 ent species of plants. The caterpillars enclose twigs and some- 

 times entire branches and small trees with all their leaves in the 

 webs. The softer upper portion of the leaves is eaten by the cater- 

 pillars and because of the drying and browning of the leaves the 

 webbed branches quickly become conspicuous from their deadened 

 appearance. The light colored hairy caterpillars may be found by 

 the dozen feeding or resting on a partly closed leaf, and hundreds 

 of them may be within the web on a single twig. When young, the 

 caterpillars feed only within the web but when older they leave the 

 web at night and feed without. When all food within reach is ex- 

 hausted they may abandon their web altogether and the tree on 

 which they are feeding and scatter over the nearby vegetation in 

 search of sustenance. 



Sometimes quite large trees lose all their foliage from this 

 pest. Clusters of a few to as many as 300 yellowish, spherical eggs 

 are laid, on the underside of the leaves by the moths. The moths 

 are pure white in color or else white spotted with black. ' Two 

 broods per year is believed to be the rule in Ohio, the first brood of 

 moths appearing in early June, the second, in July and August. 



Spraying with arsenate of lead, 2 to 3 pounds\of the powder or 

 with 3 to 5 pounds of the paste, according to the a^e of the cater- 

 pillars, is the best remedy. Sprayings made in the\ latter part of 

 July will catch many of the early comers of the second brood when 

 they commence feeding. If trees are small and not top numerous, 

 the webs and leaves protecting the caterpillars can be removed by 

 hand and dropped into a pail containing water with a film of kero- 

 sene floating on top. 



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