The bagworm , Thyripopteryx ephemeraeform , is an insect pest that overrun some 128 species of tree and shrubs in the United States ; the crabapple tree diagram is one of its best-loved hosts . The bagworm also infests maples , oaks , spruce , junipers , cedars and pine among others . Bagworm larvae prompt about in protective bags do the most legal injury to the trees .

Appearance

Bagworm larvae are tan or brown blotch with black . The female person persist larva - like , never leaving their bag . The adult males look like bees with pelt - covered body and exculpated wings . The slick bags covering the larvae that do the most legal injury are about 1/8 - inch long in the other bounce .

Life Cycle

manly and distaff bagworms spend the winter inside their bags . distaff bags curb several hundred bollock that dream up in late spring . The freshly hatch larvae twisting down on silken threads to finalize on the host Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree or , gasconade about by spring zephyr , they bring on a new tree diagram . The larvae get to eat , covering their dead body with silken bagful that they take with them as they forage . The dish get enceinte as they tally piece of bark , sprig and foliage , excrement and the skins that they shed . If larvae are agitate , they yank their heads back inside their bags and close them tightly .

The larva develop until August when the bags are about 2½ inches long . They stop feeding and attach themselves to a twig with loops of silk and shut down the bag . They molt into the pupal stage , and a month by and by the males come forth in quest of a female . After union , the distaff deposits her ball then drops to the ground and dies .

Bagworm Damage

Larvae may exhaust the crabapple buds causing branches to die and leaving loose , numb areas . The mature larvae plug their base by enfold silk tightly around the branch . This band constringe the branch and can kill it after several years .

Cultural and Biological Control

Pick the bag off the tree and destroy them in the late autumn after the crab apple tree has lost its farewell . Cut the silk band attaching the bag so the branch will not be girdled as it acquire . Spray Bacillus thringiensis ( Bt ) on the larva in the leaping when they are young . Its toxins do pores in the gut of susceptible larvae including the bagworm . Bt is environmentally friendly .

Chemical Control

insecticide register by the Environmental Protection Agency to control bagworm let in those with the combat-ready ingredient of acephate , bendiocarb , bifenthrin , carbaryl , chlopyrifos , cyfluthrin , diazinon , dimethoate , fluvalinate , malathion , nicotine sulfate , pyrethrum , permethrin , rotenone and trichlorfon . Spray in the early give before the bagworms have had clock time to work up dense protective bags around themselves . Cover the intact branch with the insect powder ; you have to get the larva when they stab their heads out to eat .

References

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