We haven't had a webworm problem, but the walnut moth caterpillars are everywhere~ It's an infestation! You can hear the droppings fall like black snow, everything is covered with walnut frass. Yuk! And now the caterpillars are coming down from the trees, we've even found them in the house! You can't walk outdoors and look up with your mouth open under the black walnuts, lol! Or having a caterpillar land on your head! This is the second hatching this summer. I sure will be glad when they are gone!

That mayabe what they are, since we have many walnut trees. This is the first time I have noticed this msny. Is there anything we can do
about them?

It is a temporary problem and the poison would be worse than the droppings in my opinion. I am having a walnut tree near my house removed because of what I have seen after the tornado. If it fell, it would destroy my house because it has huge high limbs and occasionally a dead limb that worries me. But the worms were so bad earlier that I had to sweep or hose them off the concrete every day. In 15 minutes the concrete would be dirty again. That is what got me to make the call to have that tree removed. The tree guy is busy so it will be this fall. If your trees are not a danger I certainly would not remove them. Walnuts are not a good yard tree if you have a choice. I am sure mine just grew in the yard and whoever lived here neglected to remove them when small. That is how the silver maples get planted and they are also a terrible yard tree. I hope the people in Joplin think when they replant trees. My friend has sweet gums and we spend hours picking up the seed balls. They are beautiful trees but lots of work. Every tree has faults walnuts are good away from the house.

We have a lot of black walnuts here, only one is in the yard and hangs over the deck. The worms are sure making a mess this year, I have the leaf blower handy and blow off the deck two or three times a day. If we would get some rain, it would wash all that away.

This is the first year that they have been this bad, usually there are only a few but this year the trees are almost totally defoliated.

I am hoping they will be gone next year. I remember a few years ago we had an army worm infestation, they were everywhere, and they never came back.

Darn black walnuts, if it isn't the worms, it's the blooms in the spring, and the nuts in the fall, then the leaf twigs are everywherwe. Not my favorite tree. But when we had the ice storm in '07, not one black walnut was damaged. Never even lost a twig.

The walnut trees are the largest/oldest around our house. Must have been favored by the previous owner, but they are fast becomming my least favorite tree. As I am getting older, it seams I am forever, stumbling on rocks, unlevel ground, or the round walnuts. I'd love to have them gone, but untill our 2 year old trees get bigger, we would have no shade at all. Looks like their wood, is the only good thing about them.

Mosswitch water just reconstitutes the dried droppings and they swell up by four or five times. I have stock tanks to save water and boy did that water get nasty under the walnut tree. Another fault of walnuts is the juglone which kills tomatoes and potatoes. I couldn't use my saved water on the vegetable "garden/dust bowl" because of that. I used it on ornamentals that are already growing under a walnut. There a number of plants that don't do well under walnuts. They stain the side walk brown too.

Helen, I have gardened under those black walnuts for years, so I'm pretty familiar with what will grow under them. When I worked at Ozark Nursery I did occasional seminars on that subject. I used to have a plant list of what would and wouldn't survive under them, but somehow I've misplaced my copy...along with my memory....must be getting old, lol! My hosta and wildflower gardens are mostly under black walnuts. I can't grow veggies, the deer and groundhogs eat them. I have to rely on the farmer's market for them.

One of the worst things is to be standing under one of those trees and having squirrels shower you with shell fragrants, or throwing the nuts at you! It hurts when they score a hit!

Maybe the rain today will wash away the frass and worms.

Haha rolling on the floor in hysterial laughter at THAT weather forecast!