How do you get rid of bag worms on apple trees?

We call them bag worms. They hang in the joints of the trees in what look almost like a spiders web. Last year they ate every leaf on the tree. This year I am trying to control them. I have removed them for the last two days and killed them. Tried to feed them to the chickens but they won't even eat them. But seeing their green guts when you smash them neither would I.

Any ideas before they destroy this years crop?

Look into Bacillus thuringiensis (BT).

Before your tree starts to leaf out spray it. You can go to your local garden center and get a spray for all sorts of insects. It is best to do this early.
If the tree has already leafed out and they have made their nests. Burn the little rascals. You can burn the bags which will help take care of alot of them. However you need to make sure you have the others that are away from the nest as well. So spray the tree.

We used the spray can torch method. Worked well and the kids loved it.

I think you mean tent caterpillars? It's sort of a messy blobular web with a whoooole lotta caterpillars in it, sort of like horribly infested cotton candy?

Bt will help if you spray early enough, but once the tent has gotten decent-sized the Bt won't penetrate and only some of the caterpillars will ingest the sprayed leaves. You may have to cut out the part of the branch that is infested, and can then kill the caterpillars by torching (on something nonflammable!) or drowning in a lidded bucket of heavily-soaped water. (Lidded b/c many will crawl out otherwise IME).

If you mean anything other than tent caterpillars, Bt should do it. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS and try to make sure the whole tree gets sprayed, and remember to repeat at the prescribed intervals (I believe it's every 10 days for several treatments but don't really recall offhand).

Good luck,

Pat

Agree w/ previous posters: KILL IT WITH FIRE!

And then spray everything that's left.

patandchickens said:

I think you mean tent caterpillars? It's sort of a messy blobular web with a whoooole lotta caterpillars in it, sort of like horribly infested cotton candy?


Good luck,

Pat

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Oh yeah... Like infected cotton candy. That would be it.. I could not have said it any better. ,,,

I pulled most out yesterday we sprinkled with sevin dust today and tomorrow we will torch.. It is a little dark tonight. But we when we went out it looked like I had gotten and smashed most of them yesterday. Did I mention some were high and fell in my hair.

found info - One effective way to remove them is to place a bucket 1/4 filled with water near the infected tree, the tent caterpillars will be attracted to them and drown.

We had several on our apple trees when I was little and my parents just cut off the limb if the tent was too big and burned it, then sprayed the tree.

sparkles2307 said:

We had several on our apple trees when I was little and my parents just cut off the limb if the tent was too big and burned it, then sprayed the tree.

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They are in the V in the main trunk of the tree. I had picked them all off yesterday and just checked and so far they seem to be gone. I will keep checking daily. If the freeze tonight does not kill any apples I would hate the bagworms to get them. This is our third year in the house and so far no apples.