By Curtis D. Tucker, Enid Buzz | Sunday, September 11, 2016
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ENID, Okla. - Have you noticed the white web clumps in the trees all over town? These trees most likely have fall webworms. The webworm caterpillar is about an inch long with a black to reddish head and light yellow to greenish body and tufts of long whitish hairs. Adults appear as white moths with dark spots on the wings.
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Before you panic, you should know that webworms don't typically cause a lot of damage to trees and shrubs. They look far worse than they are. The most organic approach is to simply leave them alone. Even if they defoliate your tree, it's usually late enough in the season that it doesn't harm your tree.
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Trying to get rid of fall webworms may be difficult due to the number of webs in a single tree and the variety of trees in which they attack. The webs can also be located very high up on the tree. They seem to populate mostly in hickory, mulberry, oak, pecan, poplar, redbud, sweet gum, willow and other ornamental, fruit and nut trees.
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Removal can be as easy as using a rake or long pole, simply pull down the webs and destroy the webworms by hand. You might also try a high pressure hose to spray into the web to try to break it up and knock the worms out of the tree.
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One guy reported online that an ideal tool for delivering water based solutions for webworms is a "Super Soaker," one of the high powered super water guns. It is accurate and can delivery a steady stream up to about 40 feet. He used it to get to web worms high up in his pecan trees where he could not reach them with a pole.
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The best way to prevent webworms is with dormant oil in the early spring while the tree is dormant. Since it's too late for that you might try more toxic varieties of insecticides, such as Sevin, Malathion or Orthene but this is not highly recommended since the insecticide could do more damage than the webs themselves.
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Some people try to burn them out but this can be very dangerous and impossible due to the large number of webs. We do not recommend the burning method unless you are a professional.
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How To Get Rid Of Webworms
We used a tree lopper with an 18-foot extension pole. After removing the webs from the pecan tree, we put them in a metal tub and burned them. I’m glad to know they don’t cause permanent damage because we were able to only remove the web worms from the lower part of the tree.
Very interesting. I have noticed them all over and wondered if they destroyed the trees. Thanks for the article.