Encourage wasps as they eat the caterpillars that cause the webs. Otherwise you need to cut out the webs and burn or dispose of them.

There are other organic controls. I can't find the one with ammonia,detergent ect..but I do remember seeing it too. I read that BT will do it. It says to spray the torn open nest with BT. Even just tearing open the nest will encourage predation on the worms. Be careful not to get the BT on plants you are using to encourage Butterflies. It will kill their larve too. PJ

BT does not work by spraying it on the web, and it does not work to "stop them from eating."

BT works when the caterpillar eats vegetation that has BT on it. The bacteria kills them from the inside out, so to speak. It does not kill them via a spray on them like an insecticide.

So, if you have webworms, spray all the good leaves and don't waste your time spraying the bags. Spray them bi-monthly till the infestation stops.

Break the bags open and let the wasps and birds have at it. And you do not have to burn them.... just step on them. And if you want to avoid this next year, spray BT starting in early June and release trichogramma wasps then too.

Also, if you add a tablespoon of molasses (or dishsoap) to the sprayer, the BT will stick to the leaves better, esp. on less than calm days.

And remember, unless your tree is very small and immature, the webworms will not kill it.

Sally

I've been spraying with water based 'Cutter' concentrate and it seems to kill individual webs, but the pecan tree and others around it are LARGE trees and I can only spray with a narrow jet stream about 20 feet tops and the webs seem to be taking over. I don't really want all this toxic stuff everywhere because i have a small pup and goldfish in the pond. Any ideas and..what is BT? Oh yeah, the pond attracts wasps, but they seem scarce this year and we also have doves nesting all over the place, but we have been feeding the doves a diet of bird seed. I am thinking if we stopped feeding them seed they will go after the worms. Any ideas?

We had one big infestation when we first moved here.

We just opened the webs with a bamboo pole and the wasps took care of the worms.

Since then, when we first see a web, we just poke it and don't worry about it. We have never had more than one or two nests a year since.

No spraying, No nothing.

And no killing wasps, unless you just have to. They work!

Janie

BT works great on our pecan tree!

My neighbor told me that it is too late to spray now. Is it true? I found the caterpillar coming from sky and crawling on the ground EVERYWHERE. I know they are harmless to people, but, do they damage plants? What should I do to get rid of the caterpillars?
Thanks for your help very much!

And don't forget next year to pour beneficial nematodes at the base of the trees! This will get rid of the worms before they even have a chance to climb and web.

My trees are to tall to reach the webs to open them. Is there anything that you can put in the ground for the tree to absorb to rid the tree of the worms?

There is nothing that you can tree a big tree with to toxify to a point that it would kill the webworms. Small trees yes but again many of the above answers are more appropo.
Happy Growing David

What is BT?

I need help getting rid of worms that are eating leaves on my pecan trees.

BT stands for Bacillus thuringiensis. Scroll down on link to 'details'. It contains a bacteria that kills only caterpillars. It works and is the safest thing to use. Wishing you well!