While Madison Park doesn't have a severe problem with cankerworms, it's good to be on the lookout for them, and to know what you can do to help stop their spread if they invade your property. This was passed on to us via Andy Dulin:.
Ken
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November 15, 2009
It is still a little too early to apply Tanglefoot to cankerworm traps. Putting up the tarpaper early is a good thing to do in order to get a head start on the tree banding for 2009. Leaves are still falling, and dust and leaves will be blown by the wind and leaf blowers on to the traps. The plastic Bug Barrier traps should not be installed either because their sticky surface is too small to begin with and dust and leaves will decrease the effectiveness of the trap. Last year the Bug Barrier traps worked pretty well because we had a light infestation of cankerworms. If you have a heavy infestation in your neighborhood, the insects will overwhelm the Bug Barrier traps and continue up the tree.
If you use the tarpaper / Tanglefoot trap, it must be installed properly to work. The band of Tanglefoot should be approximately 6 inches wide and ¼ of an inch thick.
Last year we had a sharp decrease in cankerworm activity. We probably will see fewer cankerworms this year, but there will be areas around town where the number of insects will be significant.
In my yard, I have 5 large willow oaks; I band one tree in the front yard. I will do this prior to the 25th of November but do not expect to see any cankerworm activity until later. The wingless female cankerworms will not start marching up the tree trunks until after the first hard frost. Traditionally, that is after Thanksgiving.
If I see a lot of movement in late November or early December, I will then band the other trees in my yard. In the fall of 2008, female cankerworms started going up the trees on December 6th. If I see very few cankerworms, I will hold off banding my other trees but will keep an eye on them.
The worst infestation we had was 2006 / 2007. I captured one cankerworm on November 16th and a total for the month of November was 26 female cankerworms. In December there were 1,987 female cankerworms captured. In January of 2007, I trapped 3,901 female cankerworms, and in February I trapped 27 female cankerworms.
Spring of 2007 was a devastating year, and in April much of the city looked like wintertime with so many trees defoliated.
If you would like to see details of what cankerworms have been doing since Hurricane Hugo in 1989, check out this link. http://www.mcnearyspondsandaquaticplants.com/html/cankerworms__current_info_.html
Jack McNeary
