This week’s blog was written by Emma C., a Bucktails alumni. Emma is an avid student, ballet dancer, and nature lover. When not at dance or school, she enjoys hiking, photography, painting, watching musicals and movies, learning interesting histories, and especially reading. She was extremely excited to attend the Academy because as she puts it, nature is her, “safe place” where she feels at home. Her favorite quote is by the brilliant conservationist Rachel Carson, “One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’”
In nature, cocoons bring images to mind of change, rebirth, joy, and a certain amount of magic. The process of metamorphosis has been used in countless stories as a beautiful symbol for growth. However, there is one cocoon that should inspire quite the opposite feelings, at least for us tree huggers.
The perennial bagworm is a particularly dangerous foe when protecting one’s trees, especially the evergreens. With eggs hatching in early spring (each bag–cocoon–can hold up to 1000 eggs), the tiny black larvae that emerge quickly get to work. Gorging themselves on their unlucky hosts while simultaneously building silken structures around themselves, the insects are quick to make themselves right at home. As they get larger so do their cocoons, with bagworms eventually incorporating pieces of bark and other foliage to the exterior of these bags, serving as both a source of camouflage and extra support. After this growth period, mature larvae will completely enclose themselves in the bag for 4 weeks and enter the pupal stage of their life.
When they emerge in the fall, the winged males fly to the bags of the wingless females. Following mating, females deposit fertilized eggs into their bags and promptly die. None of this might seem all too extraordinary, but unfortunately that larvae state of bagworms can be greatly damaging to trees. Bagworms can infect over 120 different types of trees, but typically attack juniper, arborvitae, cedar, spruce, pine, and other evergreens (as mentioned before). The intense feeding of larvae on needles and buds can greatly harm evergreen trees, and this reduction of foliage can cause branch tips to turn brown and die. If an insect consumes more than 80% of an evergreen, the entire tree will most likely die.
Bagworm moth cocoon, Renfrew Park and Museum, Waynesboro, PA
Deciduous trees such as black locust, honeylocust, and sycamore are also targets. In deciduous trees, these larvae can often leave small holes in their foliage, but if the bagworms are removed deciduous trees can typically survive. Mature larvae can be particularly destructive to all trees. Since bagworms complete their damage while in the larvae stage, infection of a tree usually goes unnoticed until large bags appear and the destruction has already been completed. Those large cocoons might seem like an oncoming attack, but instead, they signify the end of the war.
At this point, you are probably wondering how you can protect your wonderful leafy friends. Well, the easiest way to remove bagworms is by hand, either by picking them off or cutting them off with a knife. The insects must then of course be destroyed and disposed of so that they do not infect any other trees. In extreme cases, insecticides can also be used to subdue bagworms. However, these should be administered when the bagworms are still small larvae (early summer), as they may be ineffective against larger larvae and most certainly the cocoons themselves. It is important to remember that insecticides such as these are poisonous, and can damage other plants, animals, or contaminate waterways. Make sure to keep them out of reach of children! Hopefully, this information will help you keep your trees safe! I certainly do not know where I would be without my green-filled buddies!
The photo used in this blog belongs to the author.
The Dreadful Cocoons: Bagworm Moths
Posted: February 8, 2022 by Katie Mace
This week’s blog was written by Emma C., a Bucktails alumni. Emma is an avid student, ballet dancer, and nature lover. When not at dance or school, she enjoys hiking, photography, painting, watching musicals and movies, learning interesting histories, and especially reading. She was extremely excited to attend the Academy because as she puts it, nature is her, “safe place” where she feels at home. Her favorite quote is by the brilliant conservationist Rachel Carson, “One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’”
In nature, cocoons bring images to mind of change, rebirth, joy, and a certain amount of magic. The process of metamorphosis has been used in countless stories as a beautiful symbol for growth. However, there is one cocoon that should inspire quite the opposite feelings, at least for us tree huggers.
The perennial bagworm is a particularly dangerous foe when protecting one’s trees, especially the evergreens. With eggs hatching in early spring (each bag–cocoon–can hold up to 1000 eggs), the tiny black larvae that emerge quickly get to work. Gorging themselves on their unlucky hosts while simultaneously building silken structures around themselves, the insects are quick to make themselves right at home. As they get larger so do their cocoons, with bagworms eventually incorporating pieces of bark and other foliage to the exterior of these bags, serving as both a source of camouflage and extra support. After this growth period, mature larvae will completely enclose themselves in the bag for 4 weeks and enter the pupal stage of their life.
When they emerge in the fall, the winged males fly to the bags of the wingless females. Following mating, females deposit fertilized eggs into their bags and promptly die. None of this might seem all too extraordinary, but unfortunately that larvae state of bagworms can be greatly damaging to trees. Bagworms can infect over 120 different types of trees, but typically attack juniper, arborvitae, cedar, spruce, pine, and other evergreens (as mentioned before). The intense feeding of larvae on needles and buds can greatly harm evergreen trees, and this reduction of foliage can cause branch tips to turn brown and die. If an insect consumes more than 80% of an evergreen, the entire tree will most likely die.
Deciduous trees such as black locust, honeylocust, and sycamore are also targets. In deciduous trees, these larvae can often leave small holes in their foliage, but if the bagworms are removed deciduous trees can typically survive. Mature larvae can be particularly destructive to all trees. Since bagworms complete their damage while in the larvae stage, infection of a tree usually goes unnoticed until large bags appear and the destruction has already been completed. Those large cocoons might seem like an oncoming attack, but instead, they signify the end of the war.
At this point, you are probably wondering how you can protect your wonderful leafy friends. Well, the easiest way to remove bagworms is by hand, either by picking them off or cutting them off with a knife. The insects must then of course be destroyed and disposed of so that they do not infect any other trees. In extreme cases, insecticides can also be used to subdue bagworms. However, these should be administered when the bagworms are still small larvae (early summer), as they may be ineffective against larger larvae and most certainly the cocoons themselves. It is important to remember that insecticides such as these are poisonous, and can damage other plants, animals, or contaminate waterways. Make sure to keep them out of reach of children! Hopefully, this information will help you keep your trees safe! I certainly do not know where I would be without my green-filled buddies!
The photo used in this blog belongs to the author.
Category: Youth Blog