From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Insecticide can extension sprayer
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:23:36 -0400
Message-ID: <hmmqd35idubifq5otmuavnd4tdeklcfjb5@4ax.com>

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:19:34 -0500, maninabox@nopams.com wrote:

>I have these large cobweb looking things in my trees and they are
>filled with worms.  Besides being disgusting, and having the worms
>fall on me when I walk under the tree, I understand they can do severe
>tree damage.  The lower branches are easy to spray with an aerosol can
>of Raid or other insecticide.  The problem is reaching the high
>branches.  Does anyone make some sort of long stick with a can holder
>on the end and a string to pull to spray the contents?  It seems to me
>I saw something like that advertised once, but dont recall where.

I've made such an apparatus but I don't recall ever seeing one for sale.

Can you reach the tents with wasp and hornet spray, the aerosol that squirts up to
20ft?

Another alternative is what I call my universal outdoor insecticide - gasoline in a
garden sprayer.  Instant death to any insect it touches.  Don't ignite it, just soak
the web with gas and let it evaporate.  In addition to causing instant death,
gasoline has another useful property.  As a good oil solvent, it quickly penetrates
the waterproof tent.  The waterproofness is why water-based insecticides such as,
say, malathion, won't work very well.

As far as tree damage, they'll (partially) defoliate the tree but it doesn't seem to
harm the tree.  They're highly selective in the trees they eat.  With one exception
I've only seen them in wild cherry trees around here.  They're more a nuisance than
anything.
>
>By the way, what are those worms called in my trees?
>

Tent caterpillars.

John