Bagworms can be found all around the world. They may go unnoticed when they first arrive but within a short period of time they can multiply to huge numbers. Bagworm damage is easy to spot and if not controlled will cause plant and tree death. For this reason bagworms are a nuisance pest and one that needs treatment if you find them active.
BAGWORM BIOLOGY
Bagworms will grow through four stages like any other insect. Eggs hatch in the spring and will feed close to if not on the very same plant or tree their mother fed. Bagworm larva will create a “bag” around themselves as they feed. Composed of silk and plant debris, this bag will grow in size to fit them as spring becomes summer and their bodies get larger.
At some point in the summer the larva bagworms will spin a protective cocoon and pupate. Within a couple of weeks, these protective cocoons will release adults.
Adult bagworms don’t live long once they reach adulthood; males die within a few days of mating and females live just long enough to lay her brood of eggs.
As male adults emerge from their cocoons, they will fly off in search of females. Adult females which emerge can’t fly like their male counterparts. Instead they prepare their “bags” for the soon to be laid eggs and wait patiently for a male to find them. Following reproduction, males will soon die.
Females will lay their eggs in 5-10 days and then they too will die. Adult female bagworms will lay their eggs in the very bag they built during her summer of feeding.
If egg laying occurs early enough in summer, two generations of bagworms may cycle per season. In most areas, there is only time for one per year. Eggs laid at summers end will lay in wait for the following spring.
BAGWORM DAMAGE
Bagworms eat plant and tree leaves and can cause substantial damage if left alone. They love most any arborvitae but will also eat maple, boxelder, willow, black locust, poplar, oak, apple, cherry, persimmon and just about anything with green leafy leaves. For this reason it’s important that local activity is duly noted.
Failure to deal with inital stages will mean more will soon arrive. It’s much easier to treat one or two females early in the growing season and stop them before they populate. Since each female will lay 500-1000 eggs, a couple can turn into many thousand within a year!!
BAGWORM TREATMENTS
Bagworm control is easy to do and maintain since they are easy to kill. The key is early detection and early treatment.
If you’ve identified activity, treat as much of the plant or tree as well as the surrounding foliage of other plants. This insures you get them all. A good and thorough application in the spring can many times keep local populations in check.
However, if you find a large infestation later in the year, treat once every two weeks till you don’t see anymore. Late season applications won’t have nearly the affect of early spring time treatments for two reasons.
First, the young larva are much more susceptible in the spring and weak so chemical treatments work better. Treating later in the season when bagworms have reached maturity means you’re dealing with a stronger pest.
Secondly, the pupae stage of bagworms is not susceptible to the treatment. Their cocoon will protect them from chemical applications and only when they hatch out can they be affected. For this reason it’s important that you do multiple applications when treating late in the year. Repeat treatments assures you’ll have good protection to get each release of female and male pupae from their bags.
BAGWORM SPRAY
The best materials to use for bagworm control are sprays.
There are three which work well. ECO EC is a botanical concentrate that is mixed with water and uses naturally occurring plant oils and pathogens as it’s active. In fact, chances are the bagworms are eating some of these very chemicals since they commonly appear in many trees. However, these actives won’t be strong enough in the plant to affect the bagworm. ECO EC concentrates these essential oils to levels high enough that will kill pests which attempt to feed on treated plants and leaf surfaces. However, treatments won’t last long. 1-2 weeks might be as long as it stays active so be sure to watch and retreat as needed till they’re gone.
VEGETABLES PLUS is a true Permethrin based insecticide and can be applied to plants and even vegetables that are being grown for consumption. Its odorless and will last 2 weeks or more and should be considered if you need something stronger then the ECO EC.
BIFEN IT is the strongest active needed and will last 1 month or more when applied to the folieage of trees and plants. It too is odorless but it uses an active which is somewhat new and very active on insects. Again, treat as needed but with Bifen, 1-2 applications should solve most any level of infestation.
Any of these products can be applied with one of our SPRAYERS. Choose the one that best suits your application needs. And be sure to add some SPREADER STICKER to the tank mix. Spreader Sticker enables the chemical treatment to cover and coat all the leaves so the bagworms don’t find any untreated surfaces on which to feed.
Bagworms can become a problem on most any tree. If you suspect you have some feeding or foraging around your property, do some bagworm control early in the season to minimize the damage they can do. Treatment is easy and the good news is that they don’t forage far from where you see them. If it’s late in the summer and you have found a large infestation, 2-3 treatments might be needed to knock them out once and for all.
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Comments on BAGWORM CONTROL
Jonnie Romanowski @ 11:28 am
My problem is in my trees. I can’t just use a hand held sprayer to be effective. Is there a spray that can be put on the garden hose and sprayed for height? I usually cut the branch out of the tree and burn the worms. I have to use a step ladder and a long something with a big rag on the end to burn up high. I have a hysteria phobia with worms and when I can’t get rid of them I have to hire someone to cut my one acre of grass at this point. PLEASE help me find solution? Thank You.
Tech Support @ 12:24 pm
We have several Hose End Sprayers that can be used. And they can reach quite high but obviously depend on the water pressure at your home. Here at my house I can reach over 30 feet using the 20 Gallon Sprayer seen here:
Hose End: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/sprayers/gilmour-20g-390
And the best product to spray? No doubt the Bifen listed above. It’s odorless, mixes in this sprayer well and takes care of them immediately.
Bifen IT: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/bifen
Jennifer Hoke @ 9:44 pm
I have evergreen trees in my landscaping that have been attacked by bag worms. One tree started at top and is now completely brown…the second tree is brown on top….if I treat the bag worms aggressively, will the foliage come back next year or do the trees need to be removed? Thank you.
Tech Support @ 11:12 pm
There is no sure way to tell for sure if the trees will die or survive. I’ve seen the worse looking evergreens come back after sustaining hug attacks so they can come back.
I’ve also seen the healthiest looking ones get just one little issue and never recover. The best thing to do is treat now till the bagworms are gone using the products listed above. And if you follow this routine now through the fall, by next spring you’ll be able to find out for sure if they come back or pass. It just doesn’t make any sense to discard them now given the chance of them making it is over 50%.
Pat @ 9:53 am
My wife and I just discovered a bagworm infestation on our arborvitaes last night, July 4th. What is the best thing to use this late in the season?? We live in the northeast, Long Island, NY. Thanks for getting back to us.
Would we be better off giving the bushes a treatment ourselves or should we pay our gardener?? How difficult is it? I am sure we would probably use more insecticide than our gardener so maybe we should do it ourselves.
Tech Support @ 10:16 am
Having lived and dealt with bagworms on long island many years ago, I know they can be a problem. Especially out east in Suffolk county. The good news is they’re easy to control with the Vegetables Plus and some Spreader Sticker.
Vegetables Plus Perm: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/veg-plus-10-perm
Spreaders: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/spreaders/scatterbox-spreader
Keep in mind you’ll need to treat every week for 2-3 weeks to knock them out. Just keep watching to make sure they’re all gone before you stop applications.
And it’s not “late” in the season. These guys will remain active for another couple of months and if you don’t treat them now, the damage they’ll do will be significant if it isn’t already. Lastly, be sure to treat next spring too so this doesn’t happen again.
Bruce @ 5:35 pm
It’s 4th of July and we have bagworms with our fire crackers …. is it too late to Spray this year?? I have read May is the the Spray Month so is it too late this year??
Tech Support @ 5:51 pm
If you read our article, you’ll see that one should treat when you see activity. So in this case, spraying down the infested plants with some Bifen would be the suggested treatment and it’s not too late to do so.
More importantly, get a jump on them next year by treating earlier. March is usually when one should start but it will vary slightly from region to region.
Bifen IT: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/bifen
Terry Pantinople @ 4:32 pm
I thought my trees in my landscaping were not getting enough water. Then I noticed these little brown looking pine cone things hanging. When I pulled it off it moved in my hand. I then came to the internet to search what they could possibly be and yes they are bagworms. I used 7 dust and picked all that I could see. Is 7 dust going to work?
Tech Support @ 6:46 pm
Sorry but we have not seen Sevin Dust be of much help for this pest. What you really need to do is treat the entire tree (along with any surrounding trees) with Bifen as listed in our article above. Bifen is strong enough to last and get any bagworms you missed in your initial treatment.
Additionally, you’ll need to spray on a regular basis to insure the stages that hatch and develop don’t form another major infestation because once a tree gets this kind of problem, it tends to be ongoing and it tends to spread to nearby trees. I’d inspect the rest of your trees, as well as any neighboring trees just off your property, to insure there isn’t a nearby infestation at large. And if you find any other trees infested (even if it’s not your own tree), get it taken care of ASAP.
Bifen IT: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/bifen
Sheila @ 12:55 am
We have a large arborvitae tree that is at least 15 feet tall. We planted a small bush in our back yard on the day that we bought our house 16 1/2 years ago. It has always been the most beautiful tree until we decided to put in a new fence. We have always checked it periodically for bagworms and never noticed any until now. The tree is right up next to the fence and when we tore down the old fence, we discovered bagworms. And wow, now we see them everywhere on the tree! My 15 y/o son has been pulling them off and putting them in a salt-water mixture in a gallon jug. But there are far too many for him to pull off and the tree is too tall for him to reach them all, even with a ladder. Our problem is, the tree is right next to our Koi pond. Is there anything that we can treat the tree with that will not harm our Koi? We love the tree and don’t want to lose it, but we certainly don’t want to harm our Koi and risk losing them. I appreciate your help!
Tech Support @ 8:01 am
@Sheila:
If you believe the tree is so close to the pond that there is a chance some of the spray could fall into the pond water when applied, then you should not use a liquid application to treat. Liquid treatments that fall into a small body of water can in fact injure fish.
But if the tree is 10 feet or more away from the pond, a low pressure spray should not result in enough splash back to reach the pond so spraying would be okay if you used care during the treatment. This means you would want to avoid “pointing” the spray in the direction of the pond when doing the application.
Now if the tree is right alongside the pond and you’re absolutely sure the liquid would trickle down to the water below, I would recommend you don’t spray a liquid but instead used an aerosol. This way you could direct the treatment directly onto each bag with no runoff or overspray risk.
Now you might wonder how you could reach each bag given the size of the tree. Well, this could be done with our 14 or 30 foot extension pole seen here:
14 Ft Pole: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/tools/unger-14ft-3-section-pole
30 Ft Pole: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/tools/unger-30-ft-5-section-pole
On top of either pole you would need an aerosol dispenser seen here:
Aerosol Attachment: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/dusters/gotcha-pro-aerosol-dispenser
Lastly, you’ll need to use the Exempt KO Aerosol for the treatment. Made with all natural ingredients, any overspray wouldn’t pose a hazard even if some got into the water so it would be the safest material to apply given the circumstances involved.
ECO KO: http://www.bugspraycart.com/exempt/aerosol/eco-exempt-org-ko-aero-14-oz
Sheila (Texas Panhandle) @ 1:02 pm
@Tech Support:
Thank you so much for your help. I will look into all the products that you recommend. The tree is definitely so close to the pond that there is 100% chance of overspray. We thought it would be the perfect tree to help shade the pond from the afternoon sun without having to deal with leaves falling off every Autumn. It appears we have nearly every stage of bagworms. YIKES.
Do you have an address that I can email a couple of pictures to so that you can see exactly how large the tree is, how close it is to the pond, how infested it is… so that you can help me determine exactly how much of the aerosol product I need to purchase?
Again, thank you so much for your assistance!
Obie Dugan @ 3:36 pm
I noticed your advice to Sheila about treating a tree next to her Koi pond. The advice was very helpful but I was wondering if I shielded one side of my shrub with plastic sheeting from the pond, do you think it would be safe for the fish to use one of your sprays for more effective control? Would runoff at the bottom of the shrub be a problem if it was diverted away from the pond area as best I could? I know this is iffy but will appreciate your thoughts.
Obie
Tech Support @ 8:56 pm
Shielding a small pond is indeed a viable safety precaution that can reduce any risks of spraying close to water. The key here is avoiding direct spray going into the water. That means a cover on the water where possible and low pressure in the sprayer to insure there isn’t splash back that gets all over everywhere.
And of course, the distance between the tree being treated and the water is important. Obviously any limbs sprayed which are directly over the pond would be risky to spray. But if the tree is at least 5 feet away from the shoreline and you can effectively cover the water while using a low pressure sprayer, you could do the treatment safely.
As for runoff being a problem; this is not an issue when the products are applied properly. This is because the treatment should result in very little material on the plants. Additionally, the actives aren’t likely to relocate much once allowed to dry. Now if you spray and it rains before the treatment can dry; runoff could be an issue. But if you time it for when you know it will have an hour to two to dry, the treatment should have plenty of time to cure and after that, present little chance of significant runoff occurring.
Greg Peacemaker @ 11:13 am
I just moved in and found bag worms in my evergreens. It is cold around 40 degrees. Can I treat them now or should I pick them off and then spray in the spring?
Tech Support @ 2:57 pm
Once bagworm go dormant, which will happen when temps get below 50 degrees, it’s best to spray them with Dormant Oil. This penetrating agent will effectively seep into their bags and smother any stage that might be overwintering on your trees.
Dormant Oil is best used when temps are 65 degrees or less and a great time to spray it is late fall and winter months. Since it works on so many pests, treating trees and shrubs you suspect might have some kind of warm season pest problem can go a long way at keeping the problem minimized the following year.
Dormant Oil: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/dormant-oil
Lori Diamond @ 11:44 am
I believe we have bag worms – I have seen the cocoons in the 2 wild cherry trees in out front yard. Now they are everywhere. They even are infesting our front porch – and are in my rose bushes. Is there anything that I can do? Why are they climbing on our porch and house.
Tech Support @ 1:53 pm
As explained in our article, bagworm control is actually pretty easy. Simply spray the cherry tree where you see nests along with the surrounding landscape. This should kill them off pretty quickly.
All you need to do is choose one of the actives listed above. Any of the these can be sprayed on the tree, the turf and the home and it’s important all these areas are covered to insure you get all that might be foraging.
Also, all these materials can be safely used in these areas and won’t be a problem for the plants or any people or pets in the treated area.
Essentria IC3: http://www.bugspraycart.com/exempt/liquid/eco-excempt-gal
Vegetables Plus Perm: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/veg-plus-10-perm
Bifen IT: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/bifen
Apply any of these with a good pump sprayer or hose end sprayer if it’s a large area.
Pump Sprayer: http://www.bugspraycart.com/good/pump-sprayers