News Muncher - searching for oak - category processionary

The nuisance caused by the oak processionary caterpillar was not too bad this year, and researchers also expect "low pest pressure" next year. However, there may be local "hotspots" that cause a lot of nuisance, the Oak Processionary Caterpillar Knowledge Center reported on Wednesday. "Pest pressure can increase quickly if the caterpillars emerge in June.” The highest peak of nuisance …

Fewer Oak

Missing poisonous oak processionary caterpillars may still be dormant underground

The decrease in the number of observed oak processionary caterpillars may be because the insects can spend a year, possibly even longer, underground. A researcher from the Kennisplatform Processierups think-tank observed this week that both males and females emerged from a testing site which they had burrowed into last year. In other places, caterpillars have been observed that, with a …

The stinging, poisonous hairs of the oak processionary caterpillar could begin to be released in the air within two weeks. Research published by Nature Today showed that 15 percent of the caterpillars have reached the fourth larval stage, when they develop the harmful hairs which can cause rashes and respiratory issues. Due to the very cold spring, the development of …

The first oak processionary caterpillars crawled from their eggs one week earlier than usual on April 1 as temperatures rose, the Knowledge Center for Oak Processionary Caterpillars reports. The hairs the caterpillars later grow cause health problems among Netherlands residents every year. Some municipalities are using birdhouses to attract birds like the tit to get rid of the caterpillars before …

Fears that the summer of 2020 would be marred by a plague of poisonous caterpillars like last year turned out to be unwarranted. Compared to 2019, there were considerably fewer reports of oak processionary caterpillars causing itching eyes and skin or other problems. "We are not nearly as busy with the oak processionary caterpillar as last year," Nico Punt of …

The number of poisonous caterpillars to have hatched so far this year appears to be markedly lower than this time last year, according to the findings of a group of researchers who published their results in NatureToday on Saturday. The results will likely come as relief to doctors after large numbers of the infamous oak processionary caterpillars hatched in the …

Oak

Municipalities in the Netherlands are increasingly turning to natural methods in the fight against the oak processionary caterpillar. Municipalities are looking into promoting natural predators, bacteria based pesticides, and transforming their tree stock so they have less oak trees, NOS reports after surveying the Dutch municipalities. In the coming year, more municipalities plan to fight the caterpillars by helping their …

The hot and dry weather in the Netherlands last week were the ideal conditions for oak processionary butterflies to start crawling out of their pupa. The butterflies are expected to lay many eggs on oak trees across the country, which may result in more problems with the poisonous caterpillars again next year, AD reports. The female lays her eggs in …