Wow, I've been reading your posts for YEARS - and had no idea you were a "neighbor" (I'm in Severn). And, FINALLY, we have a subject on FR on which I feel VERY qualified to speak on. I raise moths for a living. Yup...believe it or not. I rear thousands of the things. Not the ones mentioned in the articles....but all of the Giant Silkmoths - Lunas, Polyphemus, Cecropia, etc. (I make jewelry out of Farm-raised butterflies and moths). The USDA destroyed HUGE populations of both moths and butterflies up and down the east coast years ago attempting to "control" the Gypsy Moth. As usual, they did more damage than good. Like the bugs they are releasing to "control" them now (Control is mostly impossible, it's like trying to control the weather or the tides) - they don't just eat the caterpillars they want them to eat - they kill them ALL - good - bad - doesn't matter. Then next year, they will be crying "there are no Monarch butterflies any more". No kidding dorks, you killed them off with your attempt to "control" these other species. Of course, they won't figure that out, they'll blame the loss of the rest of the butterflies on Global Warming and Genetically enhanced crops.
The best thing to do is NOTHING. Like everything else in nature, they run in cycles. A few years ago in MD, EVERY Cherry tree was infested with the tentworms (Malacasoma americana and M. disstria). This year, there are almost none. As with all inconviences, deal with it....don't ask the government to fix it - they'll just make it worse.
BTW - Those Cicadas make AWESOME necklaces!
Thanks for the post.
We've been here for close to three years - up from TX - before that AZ.
We arrived ducking the sniper, shoveling record snow and then experiencing the cicadas.
You're right, "experts" need to back off and let nature take it's course. Like burning areas off now and then.
The USDA destroyed HUGE populations of both moths and butterflies up and down the east coast years ago attempting to "control" the Gypsy Moth. As usual, they did more damage than good. Like the bugs they are releasing to "control" them now (Control is mostly impossible, it's like trying to control the weather or the tides) - they don't just eat the caterpillars they want them to eat - they kill them ALL - good - bad - doesn't matter. ROFLMAO!
The LCRA does the same thing at the Lakes....a couple of years after they release *something* into the lakes to CORRECT a problem, that *something* BECOMES the problem.
You'd thing they'd just leave it the heck alone!