Common bagworm

“Bagworm Season” is Wrapping Up but Bags Will Remain

Common bagworms (family Psychidae) are so-named because the native moth caterpillars live in silk bags festooned with plant debris. It’s the perfect camouflage allowing them to remain undetected until their damage is revealed by their voracious appetites. The “bagworm season” is ending with the caterpillars transitioning from life in a tote bag to life in a sleeping bag.
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Authors
Joe Boggs

Bagworm Damage Becoming Obvious

Common bagworms have been with us for a while. Overwintered bagworm eggs began hatching in southwest Ohio at the end of May (see “Bagworm Eggs are Hatching: The Game’s Afoot!,” June 1, 2022). However, it’s amazing how long these general defoliators can continue to crawl below our radar as they chomp on evergreens and deciduous trees and shrubs before their cumulative damage and size finally make them apparent.
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Authors
Joe Boggs

The Bagworm Season is in the Bag

The vast majority of Common Bagworm caterpillars in southwest Ohio have initiated their annual "tie-off" in preparation for pupation. Bags are tightly closed and tied with silk to a twig or other anchorage point. Likewise, male bagworms in the northwest part of the state have tied-off; however, some female caterpillars are continuing to feed.
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Authors
Joe Boggs
Curtis E. Young

Bagworm Alert!

Overwintered Common Bagworm eggs are hatching in southwest Ohio. The tiny 1st instar bags are constructed with pieces of tan to reddish-brown sawdust-like frass (excrement) stuck to the outside of silk and look like "dunce caps."
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Authors
Joe Boggs

A Tale of Two Bagworms

Tale of Two Bagworms

  As the BoggMan writeth, early bagworm damage is oft overlooked, with skeletonization injury passed off as Japanese beetle injury or other chewing insect damage. This was driven home to me last week as I checked out some elm street trees in Orrville.

 

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Authors
Jim Chatfield