Spiders in my oaks?

Question

I have three rather large oaks in my front yard. Love them because they give wonderful shade.

My problem is that I have spider webs that are all over them. I am not sure how to treat them or what to treat them with.

I am not a big fan of chemical use - but I also don't want anything to harm my trees either.

Suggestions? Have a call into the county about possible treatments - but haven't heard from them yet. Really would like to attempt to get to the root of the problem (no pun intended) and address the problem as quickly as I can.

Answer 1

Those are not spiders. It sounds like tent caterpillars. There are 3 ways of getting rid of them. One, you can cut the small branches off, (don't take off the whole big branch, just enough to get the tent) an burn it immediately. The other is to tear the tent open, (spraying the outside will not do anything) and spraying with a chemical like Sevin. I do not advocate using Sevin. It has been possibly linked to Colony Collapse Disorder in Honeybees.

If you use the Sevin, you MUST use it on a calm day, absolutely NO wind, not even a breeze. And you must use it at dusk, AFTER honeybees have bedded down for the night.

You also need to look and see if the tents still contain caterpillars. If not, don't bother.

The third thing is to call an Arborist and ask them what to do. They are professionals, and with large trees like oaks, they have the equipment to do the job.

This would actually be the FIRST thing I would do, because the tent caterpillars COULD mean that the trees are diseased (beyond the caterpillars) which has opened them up to invasion of pests. If the oaks are large and especially if near houses, an Arborist would be the one to call, because diseased trees have a tendency to fall down and the Arborist would be able to tell you if the trees are in danger of falling, and they can remove them.

Answer 2

The spiders are not going to hurt your trees.  They eat the bugs that get caught in their webs.  Just knock down the webs with a broom if they bother you.  The spiders will make a new one every night anyhow..