Oak processionary caterpillars!

[Jonzjob]

I don't know if you have had anything to do with these little horrors? They are a close relative of the pine concessionary caterpillars. The pine processionaries are not yet in the U.K., but they are in where we used to live in the south of France. Where we lived we had a big garden, 3000 sq metres, and we had 20 pines in it and with those pines I had quite a lot of practice at finding out what they are like!

The 2 types have very similar problems in that they cause health problems as well as doing a boat load of damage to the trees they are named after. I had an incident where I was clearing some of the pine cones from our garden. We had had a lot of warm weather and I was in shorts and flip flops and using a pair of fire tongs to pick up the cones. I disturbed a group of caterpillars that had come down from the trees to bury themselves and pupate in the soil. In that disturbance I had released a load of the hairs on them. A short while later I felt a very strong irritation on my legs and arms and face and my eyes had started to get quite sore. I had been effected by the hairs off of these things.

I was lucky. They can blind you, kill dogs and cats and cause all sorts of damage to you. That was a one off and from that time I killed as many of them as I possibly could. The youtube below shows just how serious I got about them and it's one of the things that I will NOT miss not we have moved back to the U.K. I estimated that in 2016 I had captured about 2000 to 3000 of the things in our garden and they didn't get to the pupating stage!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-43930702

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=jonzjob+youtu ... IRd8aaOX1Y

The ones I dealt with were the pine jobbies, but the oak version are just as dangerous and it is thought that they leave a pheromone that is attractive to dogs and they will try to eat them. If you ever get into that situation with your dog then get it to a vet and tell them what has happened as soon as you can or the animal will die in agony! They can be saved if you are quick! I have never been so serious as I have been in this thread! I had 13 years of dealing with the pine version and from what I have read they are very similar!

 

[Garno]

WOW :shock:

How do you dispose of them when the bag starts filling up?
Also why does the bags need soil?

great vid by the way

Thanks

 

[Jonzjob]

Burn the sods Gamo !!! :mrgreen: (hammer) :mrgreen: (hammer)

They are fascinating little machines. They make a cocoon out of their silk and each cocoon has a compliment of between 2 and 300 caterpillars in it. The pine moths are bad fliers and lay their eggs on the needles low down and when they hatch the little gits start eating the needles from day one. They form small cocoons and as they grow they work their way up the trees and form bigger cocoons. I have a telescopic branch lopper that extends to 4m and I cut them down and burnt them until they were too high. They need VERY careful handling and gloves. When they are ready to pupate they come down from the trees in a procession, anything up to 12 or 14 foot long, find some soft ground and bury themselves. This is usually around now-ish. So when they go down into the traps and down into the soil they start to pupate in there.

We used the services of a bloke who specialised in them and other menaces. He had loppers that could reach the top of our 8m high trees without lifting a toe off the ground! Not cheap, but very effective and he came back at the end of the season for them and collected the bags to take away and burn in his special burner thingy. It really is the only way to get rid of them, because if you stand on them or swat them the hairs get airborne and fly everywhere and you have got more trouble.

From what I have read the oak jobbies are not as dangerous as their pine cousins as they do not have to come down the find the soft earth to pupate in. But never the less, they are nasty little pineapples, or should that be oakapples :?

The other main difference seems to be that the pine jobbies hatch in about November and feed through until now-ish. Hardy little sods to in that they will come out to feed in sub zero temperatures. The temp in their cocoons is several degrees above ambient.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

From the New York Times -
British forestry officials are warning parts of London about an invasion of caterpillars whose long white hairs can trigger allergic reactions in humans that include skin and eye irritation, difficulty breathing and even anaphylactic shock.

Caterpillars of the oak processionary moth were spotted emerging from eggs in mid-April, according to the Forestry Commission, which oversees forests in England and Scotland.

 

[Harbo]

Supposedly brought in in 2005 on infected trees from Holland.
Another nasty in the South is the Brown Tailed Moth.

Rod