FARMINGTON -- The white webbing taking over some trees in the area is not anything to be concerned about, according to Berni Kurz, Washington County extension agent.
"Aesthetically it's ugly but just relax," Kurz said, speaking to the Farmington Garden Club last week. "The tree is not hurt."
The webbed masses seen in trees are home to the fall webworm, which is similar to the eastern tent caterpillar, according to the website for Home and Garden network.
Fall webworms are the larval form of a small white moth. It spins its nests within tree branches, rather than at the ends of branches. The caterpillars spend their larval state inside the webbed nests, eating on leaves found within the web.
Kurz said fall web worms come around every year but this year seem worse.
Typically, he said, the months of June-August are dry and then a cooling off, wet spell causes the larva to pupate, falling to the ground where it stays until adults emerge in late spring.
This year, Kurz said, spring months were drier and then a wet, cooler period occurred. The dry and then wet weather triggered the lifecycle of the webworm to begin sooner than normal.
"I saw the first webworms in June," Kurz said, adding he normally starts seeing them in August.
It takes 60 days from when an egg is laid and the adult emerges, able to lay its own egg. Because of the earlier season, multiple generations of webworms are being seen this year, he said.
Webworms usually are first found on persimmon trees. Other favorites are hickory, pecan and walnut trees.
There are positives to all the webbed nests on trees, Kurz said.
"You have less leaves to rake and you have a jumpstart on Halloween decorations," he joked.
According to the Home and Garden network website, homeowners can use a rake or long pole to pull down the webs and destroy the webworms by hand if they do not want the nests taking over their trees.
But Kurz reminded those at the meeting, "The trees are fine."
Community on 10/07/2015