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The United States is being invaded. The states of New York, Maryland, East and West Virginia and Pennsylvania have already been overrun and now the attacker is turning it’s attention o the western states. Who are the invaders? They are the gypsy moths. In a single the gypsy moth is capable of defoliating 13 million acres of forest. The invasion of the gypsy moth has, as a result, been likened to a plague of Biblical proportions.
The attack of the gypsy moth seems to be unstoppable. They have, to date, defied every attempt to halt their destructive course. The caterpillars emerge from their eggs in late April or early May. They then set about eating bare any tree they can get close to. Although the leaves of the oak tree are the favorite delicacy, they will feast on any of up to five hundred varieties of tree. The caterpillars have silken threads which are carried on the wind. Thus they are able to be transported from one feeding stop to another. They are also quite likely to hitch a ride on some unsuspecting traveller’s car, lawn furniture or clothing. It is this ability to hitch a ride that has given rise to the name ‘gypsy’ moth.
The gypsy moth has a voracious appetite. By the time it reaches its full height of two and a half inches ( 6.5 centimeters) it will be capable of consuming twelve square inches of leaves in any twenty four period. They are actually capable of killing trees that are too weak to withstand continual leaf loss year after year.
The gypsy moth was unleashed on the United States by accident. In 1869 a French naturalist was working in Medford, Massachusets. He had a cage of gypsy moth caterpillars for experimentation purposes that he had imported from France. However, a violent wind storm swept through the region. The cage was upset and the moths were able to crawl out the window. They soon proliferated and twenty years later Medford was swarming with gypsy moths. For the next ten years the residents of Medford tried to get rid of the pests. They tried everything from torches, creosote paint, scrapers and sticky paper to sprays of lead arsenate and other poisons. But it was all to no avail. The gypsy moth continued to grow in number and in the area it covered. By 1922 they had established themselves in New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont.
The advance of the gypsy moth was slowed with the use of DDT in the 1950’s. However, the lethal effects to other wildlife of spreading DDT across the landscape soon led to the banning of this deadly chemical. Chemicals that were more selectively lethal were put to use. Yet despite spending many millions of dollars to halt their progress, the march of the gypsy moth continues. The moth has built up a resistance to nearly every chemical used to combat it.
Interestingly, the rate of gypsy moth forest damage has reduced from the early 1980’s on. This is as a result of the defences put in place by nature. Defoliated trees grow replacement leaves that are high in tannin. This makes for food that is quite unpleasant tasting to the gypsy moth caterpillar. Perhaps, we are wisest to leave the control of such natural habitats to mother nature – after all, she designed it.
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