Tent Catepillar

Malacosoma americanum, or tent caterpillar when it is at home absolutely loves apple trees. That is where I met this little guy not far from Dayton Ohio. They get their name from the tent like canopy that the larvae hatch out of. While they are technically pests I don’t like using pesticides to get rid of them. Its easy and cheap to just grab the mass of webbing off the tree if you really need to get rid of it, do wear gloves if you go that route or consult a professional. To be honest I just left them alone and enjoyed watching them hatch, they didn’t do any real damage to the apple tree and we had plenty of apples to go around. 

Resources

purduelandscapereport.org/article/the-return-of-tent-caterpillars-whats-it-means-for-your-yard/

https://www.fs.fed.us/r3/resources/health/field-guide/fid/tent-caterpillar.shtml

https://www.usanpn.org/data/forecasts/Eastern_tent_caterpillar