Is there a way to rid trees of tent caterpillars other than physically removing them.

You can burn them out but when they drop to the ground, you have to stomp on them. Take some paper, put it on the end of a pole and set fire to it. Burn the web and the worms will fall out.

Would burning them be anymore effective then spraying them with a jetblast from the garden hose? Also, is there a way to prevent them from returning

The pests are already in their tents and just waiting for their dropping to the leaves to munch on.

NO, the only sure way to rid the tree is to go get 'em. Cut the entire tent off the limb and bring it down to where you can douse with gasoline et al...and burn them.

A wheelbarrow makes a good place to immure them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hayland,

Insecticides won't penetrate the web, so there are two options. Burn them out of the web, let them fall, but try to catch them on a tarp or other device so they can't be missed in the grass then dump them in a bucket of soapy water. Stomping them is an option (as mentioned). Make sure to have a hose on hand if you burn them out.

The best way, if the branch isn't too big, is to cut them out (branch and all) then drown them in a bucket of soapy water. Burning can damage the branches around the web if you are not careful, whereby you may have to cut out the branches anyway.

Someone told me that she thought these would turn into butterflies-that all caterpillars turned into butterflies. I don't think so but I could not argue without being certain.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sara in Tn,

Sara, both these tent cats in spring and the fall webworms turn into moths.... not butterflies.. so you don't have to wonder about stomping the caterpillars!... go for it!..

since tent caterpillars tend to make their 'tents' in the crook of the limbs of trees, it's pretty hard to cut out the whole branch to get 'em......unlike fall webworms, whose tent is out on the end of branches.!!....that caterpillar-getter, good old Bt is great if you want to spray the leaves and make them die that way.... this site has the sticky stuff to keep them out of the tree to start with...

http://www.tent-caterpillar.com/1-eastern-tent-caterpillar.htm

on it's last page....

if you can reach the nest, wait till dark, when they're all in there....desperation taught me this one.... wrap a long stick with duct tape 'inside out' so it's sticky... then use the stick to roll up the tent and all .... put on the ground and have a dance party!!.... stomp, stomp....

Burning these webs out of a tree will do far more harm than good. The heat from doing that can cause serious problems to the area of the tree that heat is applied to, and I have seen brush fires started by this practice that ended up costing the person responsible some hard earned cash.
Tentworm caterpillars and their cousins the Fall Webworms, as well as the Gypsy Moths larva, and many other leaf eating catrepillars can be easily controlled with proper applications of Bacillus thuringiensis - Kurstaki, a disease that you spray on the leaves that must be ingested by the target. However, this is only effective early in the life of these critters.
While these wee buggers can look really bad they do not pose an immediate threat to the tree although if that tree is infested repeatedly, over years, it could be weakened and die. But since the BTK poses no threat to insects other than leaf eating (and that does include butteflies) it is an environmentally sound control method.