Re: processionary caterpillars
 

Oh please.... tell me the one where they escaped from a secret Chinese laboratory :popcorn:

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

That's correct; the lab techs all went home to their families for Chinese new year, the eggs hatched, and the hairy little murderers made a run for it, moving in procession at 0.5 kmh.

By the time the holidays were over and the lab was reopened, the caterpillars had crawled into the luggage of a Chinese agricultural worker bound for Europe.

And the rest is hysteria.

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

https://www.cm-seixal.pt/noticia/lag...que-deve-fazer
use google translate if you need to, but in summary:

stick your head between your legs and kiss your @rse goodbye

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/translator) is far better than Google Translate, but you have a free characters limit so you have to do it in chunks, which I purvey to you at no extra charge:

Between December and March, the pine caterpillar begins to descend from the tree to burrow into the earth, carrying out the "procession" from which it gets its name. It is at this time of year that the pest is most visible in the municipality, and it is at this stage that it poses a danger to the health of people and domestic animals.

The pine caterpillar also known as processionary ("Thaumetopoea pityocampa Schiff") is an insect that defoliates pine and cedar trees in Portugal. From December/January onwards, rows of caterpillars crawl down the trunks and it is their stinging hairs that, on contact, can cause allergies on the skin, eye system and respiratory tract. Children and pets, especially dogs, are the main victims, so if you see pine caterpillar nests you should take the necessary control measures.

Every year, between September and November, Seixal City Council controls this pest by micro-injecting pine trees in parks, gardens, schools and children's play areas. The council also places and monitors nests for the natural predators of this pest (titmouse), which help to regulate its population and maintain the natural balance.

In addition, the municipality is carrying out awareness-raising activities among the population, in particular by encouraging them to preserve natural predators and to take care when they are most at risk of contact. Given that eradicating the pine caterpillar is virtually impossible and ecologically undesirable, raising awareness among the population that comes into contact with it every year is a priority for the municipality.

In January 2023, and as part of the O Chapim Vai à Escola project, two environmental awareness-raising activities were held on the issue of the pine caterpillar, the causes and challenges and strategies for controlling this species in a more sustainable and ecological way, using its natural predators: one activity with the Portuguese Scouts Association, Group 269 - Fernão Ferro in Fernão Ferro Urban Park (Parque das Lagoas) and another with students from Quinta da Cabouca Primary School. These two environmental awareness activities involved 62 participants and the activity with the Scouts also resulted in five nest boxes being placed in Fernão Ferro Urban Park (Parque das Lagoas).

In 2023, 54 nest boxes were monitored, installed in various green spaces in the municipality. At the end of the breeding season, only 51 remained, 19 of which were occupied with complete nests, corresponding to an occupancy rate of 37 per cent. The occupancy rate of the nest boxes installed in the 2023 breeding season is quite satisfactory, given Seixal's peri-urban context.

OK, just more Communist Propaganda from Seixal, no real info :blah:

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

I'm not quite sure what you expect them to do..... they are treating the trees under their control and monitoring the problem. Would you suggest that these "communists" should extend their reach to privately-owned property?

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

No

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

And the nasty little blighters are back already.

I'll be spraying the nests I can reach today.
I wonder if I could rig up a drone to get the nests up in the big trees?

Maybe there are some Ukrainians around who know how to do that.

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

Back in October, I took a close look at the four pine trees behind my house. Over the last tn years they had grown into lovely trees and were producing cones and delicious kernels......... but they had been infested with the hairy monsters. This year, the infestation seemed far worse than in previous years and SWMBO was concerned at the potential impact on our pets - not least because she had suffered a nasty allergic reaction to the hairs when clearing up "old" nests last year. :unsure:

So I started trying to remove the nests, or the branches where the nests were...... but quickly I became aware of processions of tiny caterpillars making their way "to safety". In the end,the infestation was such that I removed all the branches - and will cut the trees down when I get the opportunity. I had masked up and tried to cover all exposed skin..... but that's tough when it's still 30C+ and you're sweating buckets! It was a hard couple of days work.... just before I came back to the UK.

Then, 2 days after I returned, I started to feel an itching on my wrists and the back of my neck. :eek: I used antihistamine cream to get some relief, but the rash started to spread. So I then took antihistamine pils.... and these gave some relief, but both arms were now affected, plus odd patches on my neck, my chest and my back. In the end, I was popping pills for 3 weeks.... and becoming concerned that this irritation just wouldn't go away. Even when the rash finally diminished there was a sensitivity to hot and cold, where nerve endings had obvously been affected or sensitized. Now, 2 months later and as I prepare to return to Portugal, the day-to-day irritation has stopped and the sensitivity has diminished... but it still hasn't disappeared.

Given my experience, I can't even imagine the experience of having super-sensitive nasal cavities affected, let alone internal reactions from breathing in the hairs. It's not just that dogs and other animals can die from these reactions, it's the horrible way it happens. Processionary caterpillars really are a plague.

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

If you use the Ukranian method, the tree is also gone..

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

Fortunately there were no pine trees close to where we lived in Spain, but were always wary of them being around, and saw them processing across or along the paths and were always war of going near as I suffer from allergies.

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

Well yes; but that's better than the American method...
I'd lose my whole forest!

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

I sprayed 60 or 80 nests; a lot less than last year.

I expect to do it again in a month or so.

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

You are lucky..... I took the drastic action I did when I had removed 30 nests from the accessible parts of my 4 trees.... and I estimated there were at least another 50 to go - in areas where I would need a cherry-picker. In some places, there were almost more nests than tree - and this was in October, when the caterpillars were small!!

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

That sounds really dangerous.
I think you need to blast the whole trees with some nasty pesticide.

Re: processionary caterpillars
 

A bit late for that. I left the four trees looking like something from a WW1 battlefield when I returned to the UK. Now I'm coming back, I will look to remove them entirely.

Whilst they were a nice feature, the increasing infestation and need to keep on top of the problem proved too much...... and they are too close to thè house and pets to use any industrial-strength pesticides.

That means that over the last 12 years I have lost 3 dominant features to increased pest activity...... first I lost my three pine trees, then I lost my agaves, now my "pinheiros-mansos" :unsure: