Tent caterpillars on Buckthorn

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Everyone,

Last year we noticed several caterpillar tents, Malacosoma americanum,
on Cathartic Buckthorn, and hit upon the idea of gathering them up into
one of our Buckthorn thickets so their descendants would combine
Buckthorn-tolerant genes, and maybe become a bit of a plague to that
invasive species.

Unfortunately by the time we had the idea the caterpillars had largely
dispersed from the tents, so it didn't work last year. This year there
seems to be quite a few caterpillar tents on Choke Cherries and Apples
here, but with the heady onrush of warm weather, they're already
beginning to disperse, and we haven't been out enough to scan for tents
on Buckthorn.

I wonder if others have seen an increased number of tents, or any on
Buckthorn?

fred.
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Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
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