– – Just in time for the spooky season, you might be observing a growing number of webs on Ohio trees.
No, these do not belong to any huge spiders.
The big webs are the work of fall webworms. Perhaps even the work of a couple of generations of fall webworms.
These nests of fall webworms are often incorrectly attributed to camping tent caterpillars, bagworms, or spongy moths, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The nests can cover 2-3 feet - - and even bigger.
Fortunately, the fall webworm and their webs are "mostly harmless," according to the specialists.
" Fall webworm nests generally emerge in late summer and early fall," stated ODNR Division of Forestry, Forest Health Program Manager Tom Macy in a press release. "They feed on more than 400 species of shrubs and trees however are regularly discovered on black walnut, black cherry, and hickories. They typically defoliate one or a couple of branches and can sometimes have break outs that result in the defoliation of whole trees, they do not directly trigger tree death."
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According to the ODNR, fall webworms, while in their caterpillar phase, can be up to an inch and a half in length and are normally pale yellow to gray in color with little light-colored hairs and dark spots. As adult moths, they are normally white with a wingspan of about a half and an inch.
Credit: ODNR
Their silk nests can remain into the winter season, and as specialists discuss, the moth's eggs are often laid on or near the nests from which they originally came. The 2nd generation of caterpillars then expands the nests that were constructed by the first generation of caterpillars.
Experts say, control procedures for fall webworms are generally not needed which the bugs have many natural predators.
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