The gypsy moth caterpillar invasion
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June has been an interesting month as far as being able to hang around outside. We have been infested by gypsy moth caterpillars. They are the most disgusting and nasty little things on the planet. They poop and crawl everywhere. When I tell you the poop is out of control, I am not kidding. I remember as a kid in the 1980’s watching my parents and grandparents wrap tin foil around trees and loading up the center of the tin foil with vaseline. The kept the gypsy moth caterpillars from climbing the trees and eating all the leaves.
What I didn’t remember as a kid but clearly know now, was these gross little things make the biggest mess and literally prevent you from being outside and enjoying the summer weather. My mom told me a couple weeks ago that it was so bad in the 80’s that you we didn’t even use our pool for most of the summer. Well, those critters are back and eating every leave in our area and have wrecked our campsite area. We have yet to sit outside and have dinner this month.
You see those black specks, that’s poop! This picture was taken 2 minutes after I swept. It sounds like it’s raining but it’s raining gypsy moth poop. Insane. Hopefully they go away soon and we can enjoy the camp for the rest of the summer. We have a new camper that I will be sharing soon plus my parents have joined in the camping adventures too this summer. They have a site near us this year :).
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I try very hard to tolerate all of nature’s little creatures, but these caterpillars are just too much! I’m glad to hear that I am not the only person who feels this way. As much as I detest the destruction of the trees, it is the tons of poop everywhere that does me in!! My deck is not usable, the driveway and cars are covered too. I sweep and sweep with a huge industrial size broom to no avail. This to shall pass, but not soon enough. Thank-you for this interesting post- back to sweeping!
Oh you are not alone Ellen! It’s been so bad that I have a leaf blower right at the door to blow a path to the driveway at our camp. It’s kind of getting a little better so hopefully means that they are getting full of leaves and dying lol
I remember as a small child that my Pawpaw would paint pecan trees white from the bottom to about chest high. I think he told me it kept the worms out of the pecan trees. They would form a nest of sorts and multiply. But don’t remember anything about poop. LOL. This was back in the 60’s.
The poop is the worst lol
Eww! I don’t like bugs, so I definitely wouldn’t like those. I’ve never heard of them before. I’m sorry you have them, I hope they go away soon.
me too!
So sorry! Must be something you can do! Good Luck!!!!
Thank you! 🙂