Don’t Panic About Those Spiderwebs In Your Trees This Fall

Summer is slowly inching towards a close! And one of the signs of fall creeping in is Fall Webworms. Oklahoma residents may soon start to see big and small balls of web in their trees. And although people's first reaction may be to spray insecticide, the Oklahoma Forestry Services is actually urging residents to let them be.

In a recent post to Facebook, the Oklahoma Forestry Services pointed out that Oklahoma residents are starting to notice balls of webs in their trees. Although they look like spider webs, they are actually caterpillars that spin silk nests for protection while they munch on leaves. The caterpillars typically start on the outer edge of a branch and work their way in.

Last year, we wrote about Fall Webworms and cited that residents should consider brushing the webs away, trim the branches with webs or even spray insecticide. But recently, the Oklahoma Forestry Services has encouraged Oklahoma residents to leave Fall Webworms alone as they are a "natural part of the ecosystem" and are native defoliators.

Fall Webworms actually don't harm healthy trees.

The Oklahoma Forestry Services pointed out that Fall Webworms actually don't do any long term damage to healthy trees but help trees with the defoliation process. They gave an example of a persimmon tree from October of last year filled with Fall Webworms and near the end of defoliation and compared it to a picture of the tree today unaffected by last year's defoliation.

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Most native Oklahoma trees are susceptible to Fall Webworms.

Fall Webworms might not be found in every tree. But most native Oklahoma trees are susceptible to Fall Webworms, including willow, cottonwood and pecan. And even though Fall Webworms do not harm healthy trees, they could be damaging to young trees by causing leaf loss. So with a younger tree, it may be best to remove the Fall Webworms.

@kelseytouchstone Thought this was so cool to see on our 2mi hike today! Fall webworm caterpillars! 🐛 #fallwebworm #moth #nature #samhoustonsatepark #louisiana #fyp ♬ ♡ ᶫᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ ♡ - SoBerBoi