Wandering caterpillars can be a nuisance
Editor’s note: This article is from the archives of the MSU Crop Advisory Team
Alerts. Check the label of any pesticide referenced to ensure your use is
included.
I
never thought I would be writing about eastern tent caterpillars and
forest tent caterpillars in the turf section, but if you look at the
attached picture on a golf course green from near Traverse City, you can
see why. Thousands of eastern tent and forest tent caterpillars have
defoliated trees surrounding fairways and have started to wander – right
across fairways, tees and greens. Golf course superintendents have
tried spraying Scimitar, Talstar and Sevin with limited success. The
caterpillars are dying, but they are dying on the greens, which doesn’t
really help. The best strategy for the next week or so before the
caterpillars pupate seems to be to spray the tees, greens, surrounding
collars, and surrounding rough between the trees and the fairways with
one of the above insecticides every other day, so the caterpillars will
die before reaching the greens and tees.