Pine Cone Looking Cocoons Killing Aborvitae

15 years ago

I have several Arborvitae that are dieing because of a cocoon that actually looks very much like part of the shrub. Several of my plants have already died and the others that are still alive have massive amounts of these cocoons. I pulled most of the ones off the ones that are not already dead and squashed them. They are now starting to show up on my Norway Spruce trees also. How do I get rid of these things?

I have read a little and some are calling them bag worms, but they are not what I think of as bag worms. They are not the silky tent like caterpillars that I have always called bag worms. When I was a kid my Dad kept them out of his trees by putting aluminum foil around the base of the tree and they could not climb over the foil. That is not what I have though.

Help before I loose all my bushes!!!

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Comments (7)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
15 years ago
Bag worms are quite different from tent caterpillars :-) Without a photo, it's hard to be certain, but it certainly sounds as though you might have bag worms, which can be very detrimental to a variety of conifers. See the attached link for both photos of the pests and how best to control. If you can reach them, manual removal is always a preferred method.

Here is a link that might be useful: bag worms
jimkw
Original Author
15 years ago
Yes thos are definitely what I have. I will look for some Talster One and spray them, but it's too late for several of my Aborvitae. I'm fairly certain I got them off the spruce trees in time to save them.
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ded_resistant
15 years ago
I think they are bagworms as well. I have seen them attack Leylands, cryptomeira, arbs etc. An early spraying for them with a insecticide is key. Conctact your local extension service and ask them for recommendations or do a google search for bagworms and you should come up with some quick answers. Good Luck!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
and i suppose you should know.. that an ARB.. will not have a PINE cone ... eh???

they have cones ... ergo they are conifers... but they are not PINE cones.. which are reserved specifically for pines ...

ken
jimkw
Original Author
15 years ago
I did not say my Arbs have pine cones, I said they had cocoons that look like pine cones because I could not think of a better way to describe them.

Anyway I pulled bout 1/3 of a bucket full off of one bush only last night. Took me about 45 minutes to just get them off of this one bush. This one still looked very green so I got them off of this one. I already took them off the ones that just had a few, but the ones that have so many and already look dead I have done nothing with yet. Probably just going to dig them out this weekend and burn them to kill the worms.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
15 years ago
Bagworms can really do a lot of damage if allowed to build up a big population, that's for sure. You are doing the only thing you can, right now, by removing them. Next year's eggs are in those little 'bags'!
jimkw
Original Author
15 years ago
I have it really bad! The bagworms are actually sticking to the side of my house and we have found them in the garage and all over the black top on my driveway. I pulled another half bucket off the same tree that I pulled them off of two days earlier.