Signs of Spring and Life Look Best in a Quart Jar

If you look around, you will notice that spring is indeed here. Sure the blooming flowers and singing birds are great and obvious signs, but it is the many less obvious signs of life everywhere that provide evidence that spring is here. When I think of the signs and smells of spring, I cannot help but reminisce to the good old days of when I was a young boy playing out in the yard. I would hear the songs of birds and the buzzing of bees. I would walk barefooted in the cool green grass and feel the gentle breezes.  I would see flowering pink creeping phlox, tiger swallowtail butterflies, carpenter bees, and eastern tent caterpillars.  As a young boy, I spent many of those spring days chasing and catching most of those little critters and putting them in quart jars.  How else could I get the butterfly to be still long enough so I could look at it?

As an adult I am now much older but the curious kid is still in me.  I still have this awe and fascination of insects; I still chase and catch bugs except now I get paid for a living to do it. I carry an insect vial (looks like a small test tube) instead of a quart jar. The only difference is as an adult I do know more and can identify them better.  I can even recite a few scientific names if you would like. 

But as an adult my interest in nature, which I consider an appreciation of God’s creations, is probably worse because I have added plants to the previous list that included insects and birds.  Being the horticulturist and gardener I have become, I have taken a liking to landscape and native plants.  I have purchased and added numerous plants around my home because of their beauty and uniqueness.  Plus, they serve two purposes – beauty and attracting butterflies and other critters.  Get the quart jar!

There is a saying that states to “stop and smell the roses.” I conclude from that statement to slow down and find time to enjoy life.  I would suggest one to take that a step farther.  Stop and smell the roses but don’t forget to examine the workmanship of the petals.   In other words, take note of the obvious but don’t overlook the finer details.  Appreciate all aspects and those very little things of life. Get yourself and your kids a quart jar a piece.

How many of you have seen our pink native azaleas (Piedmont azalea) in bloom all throughout the forests and hills in Central Alabama?  How many of you have ever heard a whippoorwill sing its last song just before dawn? How many have ever stared at the pattern of a bubbling brook or cascading waterfall?  How many of you have seen so may stars at night that you got tired of counting?  I have and I hope you get the chance to see and appreciate all the little things of life and this world too.

Eastern Tent Caterpillars

The presence of silk webs in the branch crotches on many landscape and woodland trees means eastern tent caterpillars are on the move again.  The eastern tent caterpillar is primarily an aesthetic problem in yards and has little effect on tree health if defoliations are spaced apart by a number of years. However, several consecutive years of heavy defoliation in combination with some other stress may result in tree death. The tent caterpillar prefers trees within the genus Prunus (cherry, plum) and is commonly found on wild black cherry in forest settings. Around the home, the insect can also be found on apples, oaks, hawthorn, and  pecan.

Infestations can be easily identified by the silk tents that are found in branch crotches. The occurrence of the silk tents may be associated with the gradual loss of foliage, branch dieback, or thinning crowns. The tents are formed in early spring as soon as the leaves begin to emerge. The caterpillar (larvae) uses the tent as a place to hide and for protection from predation. At night, the caterpillars come out, feed upon leaves, and return to the tent. The eastern tent caterpillar is the larval form of a moth. The caterpillar stage of this insect is the one that damages trees. The caterpillars feed upon leaves prior to pupation and formation of the moth. Larva vary in size but are approximately 60 mm long with a black head when fully grown. There is a white line on the back that is bordered by reddish-brown and black wavy lines.

The caterpillars themselves are harmless to people and are more of a nuisance around the home. Yearly control is usually not necessary since the weather, disease, parasites, and predators keep tent caterpillar populations from getting out of control. However, when outbreaks do occur, physical removal of the tents as they appear minimizes defoliation.  For difficult to reach areas, insecticides are approved for use on the eastern tent caterpillar. Proper care and maintenance of the tree to promote vigor and growth will increase recovery from defoliation. Proper care includes adequate watering, fertilizing, and pruning practices.

For more information, contact the Tallapoosa County Extension Office at 256-825-1050 or visit us online at www.aces.edu.

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