Attack of the killer worms

[Yay2001]

Well -- it's only May -- but it looks like a banner year for bugs and all things icky in this part of the world.

I was spending a pleasant Saturday afternoon, planting some burgandy and white impatiens and pretty blue lobelia under my elm trees in the backyard. Felt something itching/crawling on my leg. Instinct told me NOT to slap my leg .. I looked down and

EEEWWWWW! It was a ... a.... I'M NOT SURE!!! Looked like a cross between a grub and a caterpillar with maybe a centipede in the gene pool somewheres!! YUCKY! I hastily picked it off my leg and threw it across the yard.

Got back to work on my flowers . .. about 15 minutes later I heard a sort of "plop" and there was another one, waddling across the flower bed. He met with a similar fate.

The next one landed on my (gloved) hand. It was more or less raining tree grubs .... I picked a total of 8 out of the flower bed. I tried to find where they were coming from but never could see any within the tree itself.

Does anyone have a clue as to what these might be, and what , if anything, I can do about them? I'm a little discouraged, as my trees have only just recovered their foliage from a terrible webworm infestation 2 years ago. These don't appear to be webworms, as they are much shorter -- only about 2 inches long - and almost as wide.

We seem to have Japanese beetles, too. Or bore beetles? They have a sort dark irridescent shimmering green shell -- really pretty, and probably destructive.

Just when I had my yard looking good .... {Sigh}

 

[Mamu]

Your tree grubs sound like caterpillars, which have a ferocious appetite and will transform the leaves into lace if left unchecked. Quickly identify this worm. There is a biological control for caterpillars worms called Bacillus.

The ground grub sounds like a cut-worm which can be just a distructive, they will devour the plant stem by stem. These I hand pick, if you notice a stem has been eaten off at the ground, dig around the plant a couple of inches. Sure enough there will be a cut-worm.

Last year I planted basil 3 times all 3 times the cut-worms devoured it. This year I shall be a little smarter then the cut-worm. I will be using plant collars.

 

[Yay2001]

Mamu --

These *looked* like grub worms -- fat white body and darker grayish head -- but have legs almost like a centipede (sticking out from the sides). They *do not* look like caterpillars or cutworms -- and they are in the trees, but falling out of them ---

Will bacillius thuringesis (BT) work on these guys?

 

[Mamu]

I'm not sure what they are but if they are in the trees I still feel they are some kind of caterpillar, maybe some kind of moth caterpillar. BT should work. There are tons of different kind of caterpillers all distructive. My red and yellow twig dogwoods were almost wiped out last year. I didn't notice them until all the leaves were almost gone. Some years are worst then others. Caterpillar worms seem to run in cycles.

Have you noticed a lot of birds in the trees? Sometimes when there is an invasion of a certain kind of bug you will notice a large bird population.

I would spray with the BT it is very safe only harms caterpillers.

 

[Yay2001]

Funny you should mentioin it -- but yes, we have noticed an increase in the bird population -- I thought it was because our trees are *bigger* this year -- better habitat! And all along it was just food supply! LOL --

It make sense that you mentioned moths -- last fall we seemed to have swarms of them much more than usual and really -- aggressive? Big, too -- now I guess we're seeing their hatchlings.

I will definitely try the bt -- local nursery man recommended Dursban , but also would not guarantee that it would work. I'm really reluctant to douse my entire yard with chemicals and possible harm the birdies (lots of humminbirds this year!) and helpful insects --

Thanks for the advice, mamu!

 

[Mamu]

I would not spray the whole yard only the area that is being invaded. Like the tree. Good luck! The worms usually do not last too long, maybe a couple of weeks before they cocoon.