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| Photo Credit: ©2007 Buglady Consulting |
| In springtime, the caterpillars build their fluffy tents in tree crotches for protection against the weather and predators. They particularly like to feed on flowering fruit trees. |
When I was a kid living in the hills of West Virginia, I was fascinated by white, fluffy masses that appeared in the trees every spring. To this sugar-deprived 7 year old, the fluffy masses looked like cotton candy – until I got close enough to see the caterpillars. The silken tents, which are sometimes referred to as nests, were created by the larvae of the Eastern tent caterpillar, a North American native.
The Eastern tent caterpillar is widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains, and they’re most commonly found on wild cherry, apple and crabapple trees. But these pests may also be found on peach, oak, ash, birch, poplar, hawthorn, maple, cherry, plum and pear trees. It’s the small trees like these that are most susceptible to defoliation by Eastern tent caterpillars. While defoliation in one season doesn’t kill the tree, it increases stress levels, which raises susceptibility to other pests and diseases. In your yard, the tents and defoliation caused by caterpillars reduce the aesthetic value of your trees. Despite the damage these pests cause, most people in urban and suburban areas are basically just “grossed out” by the masses of caterpillars as they wander from the trees across patios, sidewalks and drives in search of a place to rest and change into a moth. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: ©2007 Buglady Consulting | | While Eastern tent caterpillars don’t typically kill a tree in one season, they can certainly make them look unsightly. |
Fortunately, there is only one generation of these pests a year. Eastern tent caterpillars spend the winter as eggs laid by females the summer before. The eggs are laid in a group that typically encircles smaller twigs. In spring, the eggs hatch about the time that tree buds break. The larvae remain together in a group building a small tent made of silk produced by their salivary glands. The tents are built in tree crotches because the structure helps to protect the caterpillars from predators and adverse weather. During cooler times of the day, the crawlers leave the tent in search of leaves to eat, and they return when the temperature is too warm or it rains. This goes on for up to six weeks – until the caterpillars leave the tent in search of a place to pupate. Moths emerge midsummer and lay eggs after mating.
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