Tawny Siminsky: We get complaints from homeowners that have frass - covering their back decks. Simisky spoke with WBUR's Jack Lepiarz on All Things Considered. This Tuesday, the Department of Conservation and Recreation will begin an aerial survey to assess defoliation. This year was supposed to be better, but it looks like some pockets of the state - in Hampshire, Worcester, Plymouth, Essex and Barnstable counties - are still being overtaken by the soon-to-be moths. Over the last two years, Massachusetts has seen extensive defoliation by these furry little pests. Gypsy moth caterpillar excrement - and bits of chewed-up oak leaves - on the street under a row of infested oak trees (Lynn Jolicoeur/WBUR)īut there's a larger issue beyond the yuck factor. "You're actually hearing droppings - or the excrement - falling from the tree canopy as they're feeding," she says.Īnd if you're not dodging the caterpillars or their droppings falling from above, you're dealing with them all over your driveway, walkway or deck. As Simisky explains, it's the end result of that eating. That sound is not the caterpillars munching on leaves. She's an entomologist with the UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program. If gypsy moth caterpillars have taken over oaks or other trees around your property, you're probably familiar with a "pitter-patter, almost rainfall-like sound," as Tawny Siminsky describes it. (Mel Evans/AP) This article is more than 4 years old. A gypsy moth caterpillar walks along a tree branch in this file photo.
0 kommentar(er)
