Tent caterpillars setting up camp in Weyburn, City to spray targeted areas

They are leaving silk trails wafting in the breeze and eating all the leaves.

Tent caterpillars are having a boom year in Weyburn and throughout the prairies. Claude Morin, Superintendent of public works and parks for the City of Weyburn, said the city will be taking a targeted approach to tackling this pest problem.

"It's not a pest that we've ever dealt with much in the City of Weyburn. The numbers were always very small in the past but nonetheless they present, right now when they are in the larval stage, a fairly huge nuisance factor. They are all over the sides of the trees and the sidewalks and things like that," said Morin. "We have no plans to blanket spray the entire city. That simply won't happen. What we are doing is we like to spray the trees downtown in the business district, if I can use that term, simply because those trees are in a real harsh micro-climate. There's lots of concrete and buildings. Those trees may be susceptible to a little bit more stress than other areas of the city."

Residents who are concerned or bothered by the pests on their property can do one of two things to control the tent caterpillar population according to Morin. The simplest option is to put on some rubber gloves and remove them by hand in the morning or evening when they cluster in groups on trees and then dispose of them. 

He also said BTK is an environmentally friendly spray that targets caterpillars and can be purchased by homeowners for private use.