Eastern Tent Caterpillar
Hairy caterpillars with a white stripe down the back that build a silk tent in the fork of a branch in spring. They leave the tent to feed and come back to it.
Pest checklist
Four things to look for. If most of them match what you are holding, you are in the right place.
What gets rid of them
Gentlest option first. For most backyard cases the first one is enough, so try these in order and stop as soon as it works. If you do spray something, the product label tells you how — please read the notice further down.
1Pull the tents out
Early morning or on a rainy day when the caterpillars are home, twist the tent out with a gloved hand or a forked stick and drop it in soapy water.
Try this first2Scrape egg bands in winter
Look for the dark varnished bands circling small twigs while the tree is bare, and prune or scrape them off before spring.
3Bt while they are small
A Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki spray works on caterpillars under about an inch long and is safe to use on a flowering tree with bees on it.
bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki bt spray4Never burn a tent
A torch does far more damage to the branch than the caterpillars ever would.
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Which plants get eastern tent caterpillar
Every plant we cover that gets eastern tent caterpillar, grouped by type — tap any one to open its page. A note beside a plant came from that plant’s own entry, because the same pest can be a minor nuisance on one plant and a serious problem on another. Plenty of plants we do not cover get it too.
trees5
Plant families hit hardest
Related plants often share the same problems, so if one plant in a family has it, check the others. The largest group here is Rosaceae, with 7 of the 7 affected plants.
- Rosaceae7 plants
When to treat
Spring only, April into June. Deal with tents while they are small. A healthy mature tree refoliates and needs no treatment at all.
Timing only — the label is the law
This page tells you when to watch for eastern tent caterpillar and when treating is worth considering. It is not a recommendation to apply any particular product. Read and follow the product label before you spray — under federal law the label is the legal instruction, and using a pesticide against it is illegal.
- Check the pre-harvest interval. Every product that’s cleared for an edible crop sets a minimum number of days between spraying and picking. Find it on the label before you spray anything you intend to eat.
- Check the re-entry interval before you or anyone else works in the treated area again, and use the protective equipment the label names.
- Confirm the product is registered for your crop in your state. This page groups many different crops together, and a product legal on one of them is not legal on all of them — state registrations differ too. Your state pesticide agency or local extension office can confirm both.
- Rates and mixing instructions come from the label, never from us. We don’t publish them because they differ by product and formulation.
Other problems on the same plants
If a plant gets eastern tent caterpillar, these are the problems it most often gets as well, so they are worth checking for while you are out there. They tend to appear together; one does not cause another.