Rent reduced for riders, early budget items approved by Regina Council
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Regina's city council covered a lot of ground in a three-hour meeting on Wednesday. With all members in attendance, coun...
It’s an annual part of spring in Saskatoon – forest tent caterpillars are back.
“We are definitely into the early stages of tent caterpillar season in general,” said Jeff Boone, entomologist with the city of Saskatoon. “Fortunately though, our numbers are down over our peak numbers that we were experiencing a few years ago.”
The nuisance caterpillars begin emerging after things green up and feed on the leaves of trees for about six weeks before the larvae spin silken cocoons from mid-June to mid-July.
After several bad years of infestations in the city, Boone said they noticed a significant drop in 2019, which he expects will carry over to this year.
While the caterpillars can cause severe defoliation, Boone said for the most part they are harmless creatures.
“Forest tent caterpillars are one that our trees around here are very adaptive to. It’s been around their entire life. It’s one that’s not so problematic for overall tree health,” he said.
He says there are several ecological products on the market to get rid of the caterpillars, but he recommends catching them early in spring and spraying them with a garden hose.