IMG 7196- Army Worm eating my Euonymus

Humph!

I looked to me like they've just arrived on the Euonymus, Karen... I should have posted a pic of the skeletonized baby oak trees beside my kitchen garden. I've been stripping these blighters off of my apple trees for 2 weeks now...I hope they give up soon. I know this doesn't look like much of a threat compared with the moths on your hedge. These guys come out of the tall trees of the forest on the wind!..they travel on silk lines and plop on your hat or your shoulder. When they mass they can really do a lot of damage...one of my smaller apples, off in the corner of the lot, has been completely defoliated...I didn't even get to it!

I was humphong at the Caterpillar Lori, not at your poor garden. You should see the state of the field hedge now. I know exactly what you are going through. At least mine is only the hedge! And we have managed to control it on our garden thank goodness. But whole trees taken...so horrible. This just shows how out of balance nature is right now doesn’t it.

I'm sorry, Karen...I knew what you meant. I think this is the backlash of years of spraying. "It's not nice to fool wish Mother Nature..." at least that's what they told us years ago.. but now we're reaping the whirlwind. A few years ago our forests (hence the industry) was threatened by tiny bud worms that killed the tops of the fir trees (lumber) serious spraying was done to the detriment of other beneficial insects and that just seemed to tilt the balance in favour of industry while depriving fruit trees of pollenators etc...and there seem to be more things like beetles and sawflies. I agree...things are badly out of balance. It's a worry. I should post a pic of my sorry little oaks... it's so sad. I go out each day, morning and evening, and pick off the worms...but each morning there are more munchers. We are starting to see road stains now...they were given the name "Army Worms" because in years past they were like a furry wave crossing roads and even made bridges of themselves to cross creeks and ditches.

Wow! I can just imagine that...but I don’t want to!