mimosa webworm control

Do you have any products to control mimosa webworm? I get them in my large sunburst locust tree in my front yard. Presently, I use AceCap tablets where I bore holes in the trunk and insert them. Unfortunately, the tree is too tall to spray from the ground.

Mimosa webworms get active in early summer. Most eggs will be in the ground, surrounding previously infested trees, after falling from these same trees the year before when laid on leaves. Eggs may also be hidden in the bark of the tree in low areas where the trunk is likely to have cracks and slit where eggs can be hidden. Eggs laid high in the tree are usually preyed upon since these areas don't offer any great protection from natural predators. Pupae stages will also overwinter in the ground around these same trees and in the low trunk and bark sections. Molting into adults ready to hatch the following spring, these cocoons are well hidden but ready to hatch as soon as it gets warm. To get this pest under control, you must attack it when it's most vulnerable. This is not when it's atop the tree eating. In fact the best time to get it is in the late winter and early spring but you can wait to treat the leaves of infested trees if the infestations are that bad.

In late winter, it's a good time to treat as much of the trunk with some DORMANT OIL. This will soak into eggs and pupae killing what it coats. Though this treatment won't solve the problem, it will help to minimize spring/summer populations.

As spring begins, a good strong residual to treat the emerging webworms is BIFEN. It's odorless and effective on most any insect. A good treatment to the soil and trunk of the tree as high as you can reach once a month for 3 months in a row should intercept emerging young thus cutting off their exodus to the top of the tree and new leaf growth typically found each spring.

As the foliage growns in, treating the leaves with the Bifen where you see activity is worth doing. If you've done a good winter and spring treatment, there shouldn't be much activity down low. To reach up high, consider using a TROMBONE SPRAYER. If you don't think this will reach high enough, consider a using a pressure washer with the Bifen premixed pumped through it instead of cleaner or bleach. Pressure washers can usually spray quite high and should be able to get higher than any pump sprayer.

Lastly, the liquid treatments to the soil should soak in and make it's way into the sap of the tree much like the AceCap you've been applying. This isn't a sure thing but there is no doubt subtle amounts will work their way in and act as a systemic to some degree. If this happens enough it could help curb feeding on the leaves. But systemics are slow acting and not a sure thing so I would recommend the "off season" attention as being the main way you'll be able to get control of this persistent pest.