Southern NJ. Step outside into the yard. Look around at the 100’ + oak trees. Shhhh…hear that? That is the unbelievable and haunting sound of caterpillars chewing leaves. Yes, it is the chewing sound! See all those chewed up leaves falling like green snow? Good bye, oak trees!
I’ve been in my current home about ten years, and never saw anything quite like the deforestation that the Gypsy Moths Caterpillars are causing. To hear them chewing is down right creepy. And it looks like fall, except that all the falling leaves are green and chewed up!
I don’t even want to see what my wooded lot will look like by month’s end, when it is supposed to get worse!
Back in the 80’s they were spraying for those like the dickens, I remember having to go indoors when the helicopter with the giant booms came by and sprayed.
That worked by in large for 20 years…I’ve seen a creepy increase of them as of late.
Remember all those black stripes painted around all oak trees with the insecticide on them? There are still a few trees around that still have the remnance of the stripe…
Central NJ. The ravenous caterpillars denuded an entire tree outside the office building where I work. They crawl on the outer walls and above the doors. Sometimes they fall on unwary heads. “Someone should call an exterminator,” said a co-worker. I said, “What we need is an exorcist. Don’t you know this means our building is possessed by the Devil?” “That would explain a lot,” said another.