A Spring Nightmare

Watching with anticipation for the first signs of spring, has been accompanied by many memories, both good and bad. One of the nightmares, this dredged up, still fills me with horror and fear. For, as spring came, so did the caterpillars. Yes, the black ones… that love the cherry trees. If you have ever seen them, you will not forget them.

The woods, behind and beside my house, were filled with several wild cherry trees. While eggs were laid in June and July by tent caterpillars, the onslaught of my trees began in late March. It has been referred to as “March Madness”, the result of as many as 150 to 350 eggs laid in mass around a twig by female moths. Then, almost overnight, they weave small white bags in crotches of cherry trees, just as the tender leaves burst forth. Each bag looks like a huge, thick spider web. It appears that sibling larvae construct tent webs to encase their individual egg cases. Go figure… the first cooperative learning teams. These little critters were hungry, eating almost constantly during the day, and my poor trees were stripped of their leaves and put in danger of dying.

Wanting to help my trees, I mistakenly decided to do what I had seen my Dad do to similar caterpillar webs. So, I set out to make a torch to accomplish this task. I must say, I was successful… but oh, did I tell you my cherry trees were in the woods? Well, they were, and the ones my Dad had burned were not… big difference. As you can imagine, the webs burned, dropping the inflamed material on the forest floor. Dry leaves were the kindling needed to start a fire. I will tell you, there was panic when I saw what I had done. I started beating the flames with a shirt, calling frantically to my kids to bring a long hose to the fire. With combined effort, we were able to put out the flames and save, not only my house, but probably several other houses. I remember feeling rather dumb, for not knowing what the result of my action would be, and humble, when I had to confess to my husband, when he came home. I only told him because I needed his help in checking the site, and assuring me the fire was completely out, not to spring up again. Needless to say, he reminded me of the event often… you know… one of those dumb blond jokes!