Help!! What is this thing??

[KYCruiseCrazy]

Ok, here is the problem, I know it's time for catapiller's to turn to moth's or butterflies. Now, in my back yard with have evergreens that are slowing starting to die. I have taken a few photo's and have posted on a few websites and I'm hoping for someone to help me figure out what is killing my evergreens and the house finches and the Mockingbirds love to eat them too.

This is what my two evergreens are doing.

This is the dead side of the tree with the "catapiller" on it.

This is what the evergreen started to look like back in the start of Spring.

I think this is where it all started from. This popped up last spring and the local birds seemed to eat more

Can you help me figure out what it is or a website that might help.

Thanks in advance

 

[ukcatfan]

My mom's used to get those really bad when I was a kid in Ashland, so it is probably the same thing. She does not remember what they are called, but said to either hand pick them off and destroy them or to soak them with insecticide. It has to soak through the cocoon to kill them.

 

[zackiedawg]

My guess is that you've got yourself a bagworm infestation. They are a type of caterpillar that make those little pockets to live in, and are apparently quite destructive to various forms of evergreen like yours. They can be picked off by hand if you just have a few, but if you've got enough that the trees are dying, you may need to have them sprayed and treated - if the trees aren't too far gone. Look them up, see if that's your problem - they are common in Kentucky.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

Thanks. YUCK Bag worms!! Time to spray and pull off and many as I can and hope the local birds eat them too!! So, maybe no chemicals!!

 

[Pugrpooh]

The thing is, you want to spray them after they're hatched and crawling around. If you just have the bags you have to handpick them off and dispose of them. Spraying won't kill them if they're in the bags. Each one of those bags can have many, many worms in them.

A couple of years ago, a couple of our evergreens had a bad infestation. DH sprayed them a few times a week or so apart and they (the evergreens) came back.

There's something you can use on them called Bacillus Thuringiensis which is a biological alternative and will only kill the bagworms and isn't harmful to pets or children.

Good luck! It looks like your bush on the right is pretty far gone though.

 

[spinetnglr]

Yup sure looks like bagworm to me too. When I had a place at the shore my evergreens there got a bad case of them and they started to die like yours are doing. I clipped the bags off into a metal bucket and burned them because I am not a big fan of using alot of insecticides. My trees came back but it took a few years growth for them to look decent again.