Archive:Poplar/Poplar Tentmaker
From Bugwoodwiki
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From: Ostry, Michael E.; Wilson, Louis F.; McNabb, Harold S., Jr.; Moore, Lincoln M. 1988. A guide to insect, disease, and animal pests of poplars. Agric. Handb. 677. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 118 p.
Importance
Because of their leaf-feeding habits, the larvae of this insect may completely defoliate young trees and nursery stock. Attacked trees are usually stunted, and those in plantations may become overtopped by weeds. The poplar tentmaker is found in Southern Canada and from New England to Georgia and Colorado.
Look For:
• A tent consisting of dense webbing over a few leaves.
• Dark brown caterpillar about 1½ inches long with four yellow lines on its back and one bright yellow and several indistinct lines on each side. The larvae are inside the tent in clusters.
Biology
There is one generations in the North and two or more in the South. Adults appear in the spring (and again in summer in the South), and the females lay eggs in clusters on the undersides of leaves. In the fall, the larvae crawl to the ground, pupate, and overwinter in loose cocoons in the soil.
 Photo by Robert L. Anderson, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org |
Monitoring
Check nursery or young plantings for tents. Consider control in the nursery if 5 to 10 percent of the cuttings have tents. In plantations, control only when 10 percent of the trees are fully defoliated. Note, however, that natural enemies usually control the insects in 2 or 3 years.
Control
Spray tents with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) as soon as larvae are present. An alternative is to apply a chemical insecticide recommended for defoliators shortly after the larvae emerge from the eggs (i.e., spring in the North, spring and midsummer in the South).
For Additional Information:
Oliveria, F.L. 1978. Poplar tent maker a serious pest of cottonwood plantations in 1977. Journal of Mississippi Academican Science (suppl.) 23: 2.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1985. Insects of eastern forests. Misc. Publ. 1426. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 608 p.
