Dill speaks with WABI about silk coating from caterpillars
Jim Dill, a pest management specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, spoke with WABI (Channel 5) about the white silk coating seen on trees this time of year. The coating is from the euonymus caterpillar, which seems to have thrived during the mild winter, according to the report. The caterpillars feed on trees then spin lines of silk to get to the ground before they pupate and then turn into white moths, the report states. “It will defoliate the tree, but it won’t kill the tree, as unsightly as is it,” Dill said. “The silk will deteriorate over the summer and it will be gone.”