Catapiller/worm/bug ID

[Bowlife]

I’ve got some kind of catapiller that is all over a pecan tree. There is even a huge ball of them that is like a foot across. Can anyone tell me what they are before I kill them? Are they something beneficial that I should let live?



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[Walker]

Web worms

[Bowlife]

The closest I could find was tent caterpillars, but the coloration looks different.

[RedBear78]

Yep looks like web worms.They really don’t harm the tree unless your in a heavy drought.They do eat a lot of the leaves but they drop a lot of fertilizer in return.Typically when they get done eating the leaves pop right back out no harm no foul.

[JerryC]

Web worms is what I know them as. They make a mess and can kill your tree.

[oktx]

Sevin

[Burnadell]

Web worms/tent caterpillars… I believe they are the same thing.

[BLACKFINTURKEY]

Web worms. You should try to spray pecans around Mother’s Day to help prevent them. They will definitely do damage to your tree and pecan crop.

I’m finally getting around to spraying mine. A few weeks behind but better late than never I guess.

[Texas Grown]

They will eat every leaf on your tree, if you let them get out of hand. Get some really soapy water and a high pressure sprayer. And kill them off. They can damage a tree from lack of leaves. And ruin pecan production. I've been watching my neighbors fight them for years. They harvest their pecans.

[Briar Friar]

Sevin

Yes. Active ingredient Carbaryl should work good. Whereas it will leave residue that kills all insects….including your beneficials
Those Catepillars will defoliate a good portion of your tree. Theyre only beneficial if you feed them to your chickens…prior to poisoning.

Alternatives to poisons is using:
—Spray concentrated dish soap water. It will block their breathing spiracles and they suffocate. They will likely fall off the tree and you then commence squishing.
—or just spray water and theyll drop off tree…then squish away. The birds will take care of the remaining.

The orange balls on the random catepillars makes me think that those few catepillars have are being parasitized by a wasp or fly and their larvae are eating the catepillars from the inside out. Probably not enough to control the population sufficiently.

Good luck MrBowlife

[Bowlife]

Thanks for all the info guys.

[JES]

The first picture is Walnut caterpillars. Kill them now with permethrin and spray all your other pecan trees, you will have no leaves on your pecans within a week or two.

I trust the others are web worms which will do damage as well, just not as quickly as the Walnut caterpillars.

Once the web worms create their webs, some fire is the best way to get rid of them.

You’re getting double whammied…

[kurt68]

My dad would put something flammable on the end of a long pole and burn them away. He hated web worms. I guess that was old school method.

[brokeno]

Tempo. I strayed it on the huddle and on the tree trunk and ground and took care of them.

[Low Fence]

I think it’s what we call “bag worms”. They love pecan trees