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Tent Caterpillar
After talking with a number of people who were amazed by the Tent Caterpillar eruption this spring, I came to the realization that people who have spent their life in some other place see this amazing process as a grotesque horror and may be tempted to react with extreme prejudice. To them I say, "take a deep breath".
There is no need to destroy all insect life in your garden in order to eliminate this unsightly occurrence. These little critters can be controlled by alert and conscientious gardening. Tent Caterpillars live through the winter as a group of eggs held together with dried bug-stuff. This little incubator looks like gray styrofoam and is roughly the size of a coin. Pick these off of the branches when you see them. In the spring any that you have missed will be apparent as a growing white "tent". Remove these when you find them.
If you miss any, the caterpillars will eat the leaves of the plants that they most enjoy—things like alder, willow, cottonwood, and many fruit trees. Most of the plants will not be bothered. The eating frenzy will stop by June as the caterpillar prepares to change into the cute brown moth that will place more gray egg cases on the branches of the trees that her babies will feast on next spring.
I find that this method of control is somewhat labor intensive for the first year or so but gets much easier as the population is reduced and the grooming becomes part of your garden routine.
LINKS
If you are new to the Northwest or to gardening here are a few places that you might turn to if you want to know more about gardening in the Northwest:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nwgardens
http://www.seattletilth.org
http://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/index.html
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