Discussions

Well these black caterpillars are back!! They are all over the place around my house. On my lawn, in the trees and climbing up the side of my house. Does anyone know how to get rid of them??

Are those the fuzzy black ones with yellow markings on their back? I definitely got them crawling on my stucco outside and on the sidewalk and patio.

I have some kids here that'll collect them for you! I have 25 in a bug catcher outside! Lol.

Use Dawn dish soap (the blue one) and put about 1/2 cup in a spray bottle and add water until about 1/2 full. Spray on the caterpillars. It works. I used this last year and am using it this year. It is non toxic and doesn't kill the trees.

water and vinegar in a spray bottle, i used it last year to get them off my trees, worked and is kid/dog safe.

Our street's boulevard trees are getting taken over by them again this year.  
If your street is similar the thing to do would be to give Parks and Rec a shout. Called this morning and the chargehand was already out to have a look (I think you can also use the form at http://www.brandon.ca/departments/operations/report-an-issue ). Based on what he saw our street is likely going to be sprayed with something that's totally harmless to people. Sounds like as the weather warms up over the next few days one could expect them to get worse!

For a good idea of what the things are capable of, added a pic taken this morning of the trees between the mall and theatre that have been completely stripped  
 
Edited by Adam, 2015-06-07 10:30:50