Discussions

Had a few branches on a tree infested with large webs, so we cut them off and put in the compost bin. Since its been in the bin, the caterpillars have hatched. So. Many. Baby. Caterpillars. It's really gross. My question is, will they escape and infest our whole yard if they're in the bin till Friday when the city does pick up? Or will they be trapped enough and stay put? Wondering if we need to burn them or something before they take over the yard?!

We had them last year they will kill your trees! They infest into everything, spoke to a exterminator and he said to burn the branches you cut off and "smoke" them. They are awful and will kill everything, supposedly only come every couple of years! So what I'm saying is burn it or your whole neighbourhood will be infested!

I'm so disgusted. I don't do well with bugs. We don't have a fire pit!! Are they likely to escape the compost bin with lid? Maybe we should have an exterminator come by tomorrow..

I would put them in garbage bags, tie tight and take to dump if you can't burn them.  
 
We had them last year. We always cut out the branches and burnt them! They are so gross.

Seems to have been an uptick recently in sights like the pic I've attached. Assuming this is the same as what the op is dealing with?

As is most often the case with bugs, Malathion is your friend, dilute with water and spray liberally.

Just like the pic. Lesson learned, bag the branch or better yet but it! We've contained them by wrapping the bin in plastic, and we were advised by the city to send it normally tomorrow in the compost pick up, then wash out the bin with bleach and water to kill remaining worms/eggs. More fun! Thanks for everyone's help.

But=burn

They are tent catipillars if they have a lot of webbing with them. You can buy stuff to spray your tree to kill them if you don't want to keep cutting off branches. They are a pain and will take over any surrounding trees or shrubs.

If you didnt cut them out at night. they will still be in your tree too.When you get them burn them. You may want to get someone to spray your tree after you get them cut out.

Quite the display of these along McTavish from about 2nd street to 13th street. On the South side of the street there's a large row of red crabapple trees (I think the same as he one in the picture) and pretty close to every one of them is "hosting."

Were they on the city property or private? It it was the city maybe we could let them know to try to decrease the spread. They are nasty. We got two more branches (so far) after cutting ours out: we cut the recent infestations out and are crossing our fingers that they're done.

Have to correct myself.... The particular row I was talking about was from 2nd to 6th, not 13th. 11 blocks of crab apples would constitute an orchard  
Pretty sure it's city land, bordering railway property. Another that looks to be quite effected is the large park/playground area in behind Parkdale and Durum. More of what I think is the same type of tree.... apple in general seem to be more effected.  
I know the city does pay attention to these sorts of things. I'll see if I can find out a little more as far as what they are/can/can't do.  

I understand that what we're seeing right now are web worms. If its on city property, crews will generally trim the branch and run it through the wood chipper. If you notice web worms on city property you can contact the Parks Department. They will have a look and take care of it if necessary.  
 
On doing a Google of web worms, the links below turned up. If we're talking the same thing they look a lot worse than they are and they actually don't typically do a lot of damage to a tree if you go by whats said at the links.  
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/stop-fall-webworms-the-organic-way/  
 
http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/2013/08/what-is-making-webs-in-my-tree/