Helpful hints and Handy tips

[DustyVermonter]

Here's one for the DIY handyman...
LESSON 1: Pest control
Ever get tired of those nasty tent catipillars and web worms making nests and infesting themselves in your beautiful trees and destroying them and making your property look like crap? Here's a helpful tip, Last year I had a bad tentworm infestation, at least 30 trees were being consumed by these nasty webby nests. Some trees had as many as 8 nests. I had heard of people burning them out but the amount of trees and nest's I had it wasn't a very feasable option, so I went to the store and bought a couple 100/rd value boxes of 12ga shells and went to work. I live out in the middle of nowhere so I was able to do this safely. I did this last summer and havnt seen 1 nest since. I give this method a 10 for effectiveness

 

[Zoidberg523]

I have a friend who used to take care of wasp nests that way. What the shot doesn't kill, the concussion sure will.

 

[kingpin008]

Not to be a buzzkill, but that's not a very wise nor very responsible use of a firearm.

 

[onibaba]

Please clarify. Was the solution to shoot the nests?

 

[Six]

Not to be a buzzkill, but that's not a very wise nor very responsible use of a firearm.

Why?

 

[RyanM]

Not to be a buzzkill, but that's not a very wise nor very responsible use of a firearm.

He did say he lives in the middle of nowhere, and was using target loads. It's basically the same level of safety and responsibility as shooting clays on his property, which really doesn't need that much land.

 

[atomd]

Not to be a buzzkill, but that's not a very wise nor very responsible use of a firearm

Please specify exactly which rule/rules of safe firearm handling he violated. I'd like to know specifically what he did that wasn't wise or responsible. Clarify as much as possible.Thanks.

 

[DustyVermonter]

Please clarify, was the soulution to shoot the nests?
Yes, I got up as close as I could and used my 26" barrel shotgun so I could get right in there as close as possible and tried as best I could not to chew up the tree too bad. It worked very well actually and my trees look great.
KINGPIN008-Please,Could you elaborate as to why its not a very wise or responsible way to use a firearm. It is not my intent to be rude to anyone on THR but it is my opinion that you do not know what you are talking about. Who are you to say what's responsible, I am way out in the middle of nowhere and was shooting at the same angle as you would skeet, and was taking care of a pest problem the same someone might shoot a coyote for killing chickens. W/e I am in a better position to make that judgement call than you are, just seems funny to me that you make judgements based on nothing. I have no sense of humor when it comes to gun safety. But thank you for that very meaningful insight

 

[DustyVermonter]

I probably would have found an alternative way to fix the problem if I lived right on main st. But the road I live on is my own, and I have the luxury of being able to shoot guns at 3am if I really felt like it. Also my property is private so I don't have concerns, if I want to shoot pests on my property, I will and can, responsibly.

 

[onibaba]

Interesting. I'd love to see a picture of the nests and the damage they do...

They haven't come back because you've shot all of the nests?

Or is there something else to it?

 

[Carter]

That is awesome. When I was little my dad used to make me get the caterpillars out of his front yard trees by killing them one at a time...very ineffective. He eventually let me graduate to a hose and water.

However, I prefer your method...sadly I lived in a housing comunity.

 

[DustyVermonter]

"I'd love to see a picture of the nests and the damage they do"
I'd love to show you a picture but I can't because there are none on my property anymore...lol
They are kind of notorious around here and some years you'd be hard pressed to find a tree that didn't have at least 10 nests. But yeah, one day I had this idea so I tried it and it worked. I'm sure they may come back at some point but to tell you the truth it was kind of fun, so long as they don't get too out of hand I wouldn't mind goin back out with a box of target loads and doin some exterminating. Kind of hard to explain what they look like but they really look like crap and they can eventually kill the tree. The nest's are white and they get pretty big, like the size of an open trash bag with thousands of little catapillars inside. Not that great of an example but I'm sure if you google it you could get a better idea...

 

[vermont88993]

on my family's property in VT we had/ have bad infestations almost every year and almost all the trees are infested every summer.... you can burn them out but your solution seems like more fun!....(we are near middlebury VT)

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Tent caterpillars are an interesting subject, but not for this board.

Hint: Use pesticide in an old air-charged fire extinguisher.

Closed.