Help my blue spruce tree.

Question

I have a blue spruce tree in my front yard it is maybe 12 yrs old,about 15 foot tall. It has been getting some bald patches. I have a lot of birds that nest in it. Doves, finches,mocking birds. I just found out from a friend it has bag worms. I saw them in the branches,they are hanging sacks maybe about an inch long. I pulled off what I could but can't begin to get them all:( Any ideals about how to get them out with out hurting the birds that live in the tree?

Answer 1

It's pretty likely that by this time of year most of the bird nesting is over and the youngsters have left so you probably won't be disturbing them a lot.  You have a choice of handpicking, tough with a fifteen foot tall tree, using a bacterial spray (BT) or insecticides.  I have read that there is a wasp you can introduce that will kill the worms but I would expect that is not a short term remedy.