Lay My Hat

There is a botanist coming this week to deal with the processionaries. I am pleased that it's a botanist and not a pest controller because it is more likely the guy will use methods which will not involve dousing all the trees with the sort of poison that will kill every beneficial insect it comes into contact with, and probably birds too. If the nests can be safely cut down and removed for incineration I will be happy.

Just resurrecting this thread, as it's nearly that time of year again when the processionaries start wandering about.

Check your trees, especially pines, for those odd little hanging bags of irritation, and look out for any early starters crossing your (and your dog's) path.

according to the Spanish national press they are marching around already.

THey're out in Liguria too, as I've just warned a friend who has moved there to keep her dogs away from them and from the nests. She has a blind but still very inquisitive labrador.

they've been out and about for a month here.......earlier this year....warmer weather than usual.

The warm weather has brought the b*****s out earlier than usual. Seen plenty of them in the campo, dog staying on the lead in danger areas.

Casscat - out of interest how did your botanist deal with them?

Sam V wrote:Wow! I've never heard of these before. Now I'm alerted and well informed. Thanks again to the wonderful LMH.

+1
Ignorance was bliss. Never heard of such creatures till this moment. Now that I have researched the subject, I will be watching out for "tent" nests in pine and oak trees, although I am hoping that they haven't reached this island. I will need to be vigilant where I walk the dogs. Children and dogs can get into a lot of trouble if in contact with these things, or even their hairs floating in the air.

At least they are easily recognised and not just by their processions. I have never seen such a hairy/spiny caterpillar.

We're in inland SW France, we had a trail of them between Christmas & the New Year, right on my Mum's bungalow terrace. EEEEEKKK! And they keep coming... we have a few cold days forecast next week so i hope that slows them up.
Walking in the woods with the dogs is bad enough with the hunters around, we normally don't have to watch out for caterpillars until the hunting season is over.

I cycled to Mont St Michel at the end of December and they were out in force then.

I posted 'cos I thought that everywhere else would be a little later in the lifecycle of these irritating critturs than it is here - they've already done damage to several poor dogs here.

Marks wrote: Casscat - out of interest how did your botanist deal with them?

I wish I knew Marks. He did the deed last year and this year but I was not on the premises. I know that he is a qualified chappy and not just some bloke on a ladder. However I did notice that he'd dropped a nest near the entrance gates to my property, and he's missed a couple of hanging nests too. I haven't actually seen the caterpillars 'processioning' but I don't want them on my land. My pines are holding up well in the face of their onslaught, but I have seen what they can do in terms of stripping trees bare. My concern at the moment is that the boyfriend has two lovely Maltese terriers and the last thing I want is to see them stricken The march of these caterpillars across the pines of Europe seems to be virtually unstoppable.

Having to deal recently with these pests, I found out that garden centers in France sell 2 types of traps:

We got the first one and will be reporting back on its efficency.

- first one is for stopping these creatures to come down from the tree (feb, march) The trap consists on a ring of plastic with a gutter fitted around the trunk of the tree. It's connected to a bottle with soil. The caterpillar comes down from the tree, gets stuck in the gutter and has nowhere to go except slide in the bottle.


- from may, june there is another type of trap using a bottle with water and pheronom. The concept is simple: mix pheronom in a bottle with water. The male is attracted by the scent thinking there is a gorgeous lady in there. He ends up dying (drowning). So no reproduction therefore the year after no more caterpillars.

Hope it helps

This was spotted when walking dogs this morning on a mountain path behind our villa. So these pests have made it to Kefalonia, I fear.

Those are the critters Andrew - their march seems inexorable

Found one in my garden yesterday evening. Any of his mates looking for him will be disappointed