A reader recently asked us how to get rid of webworms in oak trees.

Webworms, or Hyphantria cunea, are caterpillars that can cause some damage to trees. They spin webbing around tree foliage as they eat the leaves, which stresses out the tree and causes leaf loss. However, most trees are quite resilient and can handle the defoliation.

The most organic way to handle webworms is to simply let them be. Unless they are truly wreaking havoc on the tree, it is probably okay to let them live in the trees. If the trees are smaller in size, our reader can physically remove the webbing using a shovel or a rake, and prune out the in habited branches. If the webs are too big to remove, even causing some damage or disturbance to them can do the trick. These holes might allow predators in to do the dirty work.

There are also natural predators that our reader can introduce to reduce webworms. For example, tiny wasps attack and kill webworms. You can encourage these insects to stick around by planting sunflowers or other plants in the daisy family that are beneficial to wasps.

There are also some organic insecticides that our reader can look into if he feels comfortable using a spray that might cause harm to the beneficial insects as well as the webworms.

In summary, a reader asked us how to get rid of webworms in oak trees. We have provided some insight on this scenario.

Originally posted 2016-04-06 11:40:16.