Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    fwiw,  Gypsy Moths were accidentally loosed upon the US from a
    laboratory somewhere in Massachusetts in the (1950's?) when scientists
    were trying to crossbreed them with silkworms in order to create
    a hardier silkworm stock. 
    
    There is something (emulated aptly in .0 by the grease) called
    Tanglefoot which you can probably ask about at a nursery or plant
    store or maybe even a hardware store.  Also, if you don't want to
    make a dark ring around your trees that might be permanent, put
    something like (tinfoil?) around your trees and then smear the
    appropriate width of tanglefoot over it.  (that's tanglefoot, as
    opposed to tanglewood, which securely roots music-lovers in place
    for days on end...)
    
    The traps that are often used to catch the gypsy-moths are scented
    with gypsy-moth pheromones, which attracts one sex of the moths
    by luring them into the trap, hence reducing both this year's and
    next year's population.  
    
    btw....taking a blowtorch to your trees and grounds is not recommended
    procedure....but stepping on caterpillars is highly effective (they
    are 1-2" long, sort of greenish with a black line down the center
    and dark dots down both sides?....I think they're also kind of fuzzy)

    correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, folks....
    
    -Jody
    
    p.s.  also, thank biological warfare.  The trees that are consumed
    by the gypsy moth caterpillars often develop a nastier sap in ensuing
    years to ward of the caterpillars....and the caterpillars themselves
    seem to be on a certain-number-of-years-which-I-can't-remember cycle,
    where the population GROWS (high enough a few years ago to defoliate
    50,000 acres of trees)....and then the population "wilts" back to
    a fairly tolerable level....
    

    re.0 >a note we can all agree on
    
    I'd rather let 'em hatch - chasing moths with a fly-swatter
    is a great exercise, whether your game is tennis, badminton
    or foil fencing :-)

    Dana,
    
    They can't fly.
    
    						Ann B.

A very small number of them can kill a fairly large tree.

I find it very effective to squash them with any small stick that happens to
be lying around.  Avoid their hairs which can cause a skin rash in some people.

Leaving their dying carcasses around is a good idea -- they carry a virus
which can infect and kill more than you can kill, and leaving the dying ones
around, as gross as it seems, will help spread the virus.  You can see the
evidence of the virus if you find caterpillars hanging from trees in an
inverted V.

re can't fly:  The females can't fly, but the males can.  Neither sex of adult
gypsy moths can eat; the males emerge from their cocoons a few days before the
females and fly around waiting for the females to emerge.  The females crawl
out of their cocoons and move at most a few inches, calling "Hey, baby" to the
males, then lay hundreds of eggs and die, usually within 24 hours of emerging.

/john

    You can obtain the names of local stores who distribute the product
    which uses pheromones to trap the moths. The company who developed
    the first pheromone regulators and traps is:
    
    ZOECON RESEARCH DIVISION
    975 California Avenue
    Palo Alto, CA. 94304
    
    I used to work for this company.  The products are unique,
    "environmentally sound", and effective.  They also have other products
    designed for world-wide crop protection.
    
    Sabonn
                                      

    re: .1 <LEZAH::BOBBITT>
    
>    fwiw,  Gypsy Moths were accidentally loosed upon the US from a
>    laboratory somewhere in Massachusetts in the (1950's?) when scientists
>    were trying to crossbreed them with silkworms in order to create
>    a hardier silkworm stock. 
    
    i thought it was 1850's.  i have seen photographs from around 1910
    where many people were scraping eggs off trees to keep them alive.
    
    i also didn't think it was accidental.  after the experiments failed,
    the scientist got rid of his caterpillars by tossing them in the
    trash.
    
    and finally....uh....the cycle is something like 9-11 years?
    
    course, don't take my word for it, i don't have any facts or sources
    to back myself up, based totally on personal experience.
    
    jonathan
    

    What do the moths look like?  One of our trees has a bunch of
    cocoon-things that look almost like dense, muddy cobwebs.
    The moths that come out are about 1" long, milky white with a
    few dark spots like little freckles, very velvety looking.  Are
    these gypsy moths?
    
    Beth

    Beth,
    
    Without actually seeing the criters I'd say it sound very much
    like you are seeing either tent caterpillars or fall web worms.
    
    Gypsy moth egg cases are yellowish brown and are found on the
    trunks of the trees and they don't make webs/tents.
    
    Bonnie

You know, everytime I see the title of this note, I think of the Shakespeare
quote: First thing we'll do is kill all the lawyers.

Apologies to the lawyers out there...
	Mez

    I usually don't do this but...How is this topic related to topics of
    interest to women? Are there feminist topics in the Gardening note
    lately? 

    Well Gail, :-) our general rule is that if women want to write
    about it, it is a topic of interest to women. Thanks for the reminder
    about the gardening file by the way. One of us (probay me since
    I read garden occasionally) should have been alert and given
    a cross reference to that file. 
    
    it is Pica::garden and hitting the 7 key on the key pad will
    add it to your notebook.
    
    Bonnie

    My husband had a discussion about this with his friend who is a
    forestry professor at the University of New Hampshire. He disagrees
    with your "Kill 'em all" thoughts.
    
    Now remember I heard this second hand, so I may not have it exactly
    right.  He said that the gypsy moths have their own natural cycle to
    live and die and that we should not play around with that cycle.
    Somehow they all kill each other off during the year when there are so
    many moths. If we kill some moths every year they will never get to
    their peak year thus we will slowly allow the population to increase
    and soon we will have more than we would have during the peak year,
    every year!
    
    So, he says to leave them alone.
    
    G
                    

    i would rather find a safe way to kill them all, they are not native
    to this continent.
    
    letting them deforest states isn't going to speed up their cycle,
    i don't think.  might speed up how quickly they spread over the
    entire nation, leaving more catepillars means that more will have
    to roam to find food.
    
    
    "Nuke them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure"