July 27, 2024

TODAY IN THE ORCHARD

Fall Webworm on our Kaleidoscope ornamental crabapple tree

Sometimes it appears as though the orchard is just an endless set of challenges, one right after another. One minor challenge is fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea). Although it might be more accurately called “summer” webworm, the webs—or nests—are difficult to miss. They look like faint whitish-tan cotton candy—or maybe superfine fish net—enveloping a section of a branch or even several branches on apples, cherry, ash, willow, oak, birch, elm and other deciduous trees and bushes. Fall webworm typically arrives in the orchard and forest in mid-July and sticks around the rest of the summer. Because the apple trees—and others—are already fully leafed out and advanced in their annual cycle, fall webworm will rarely kill a tree. The nests are unsightly and can make picking fruit a drag if the webs cover branches of fruit. You can live with it—as we mostly do—or spray Dipel (BT) on the trees when the webs appear. Today Laura was working on the farm and “spot-sprayed” the fall webworm with Dipel using a backpack sprayer.  They’ll be back, and we may spray again—or not.