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20/02/2007, 14:17 Lori Joined on 23/08/2004 Vaucluse (84) Posts 1,396 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!! I see it Suze.  Is that them walking on the house walls??  That is too weird, I would have thought they would stick to the ground....    Report

20/02/2007, 15:06 Lisleoise Joined on 15/12/2005 Périgord Vert (NW Dordogne) Posts 937 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!! Yes, it's the wall by the front door, they were going up the door frame too and through a small gap at the bottom    Report

23/02/2007, 22:05 Winegum Joined on 21/02/2007 Dordogne Posts 73 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!! What I want to know is how do they choose the leader?? And what if there are a lot of caterpillars that want to be leader? Do they have a vote? And if no one wants to be brave and lead I guess they just stay at home? I'd definitely not want to lead because I've got a terrible sense of direction, and I'm not much better with a map. It can't be much fun being leader anyway because there'd always be someone in the back having a moan and complaining about the route, or that all their feet were sore or something. Hope I don't come back in another life as a Pine Processional! I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief."     --Gerry Spence    Report

24/02/2007, 18:25 Jonzjob Joined on 23/08/2004 Nr Carcassonne, 11 Posts 3,006 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!! The leader is always the one at the front . If the line is broken for any reason then the new one at the front becomes the leader. There is no any one leader and they don't seem to have any pattern as to where they go, but they can always find there way back by following the pheremone (furry moan if it's a female?) trail and the silk thread that they lay down on the way out. On well used trails there are hundreds of silken threads. They are incredible and it is a great shame that they are so destructive. Now things are starting to warm up for spring it is the time to keep a good eye out for them because they will come down from their trees in the daytime and sun themselves on open patches of ground. They return at the end of the day. They will eventually come down in the next few weeks and find soft ground to bury themselves in to pupate over the summer.. John. I am certain that there is too much certainty in the world!    Report

24/02/2007, 21:00 Chico Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 23 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!! We are at the bottom of the Vaucluse and whilst the chenille processionnaire has been an annual problem for the five years we have been there it has exploded massively this year with nests and ugly tree damage everywhere. Until now I have managed to cut down and burn all those up to about 20 ft (sorry, 6 metres or so) leaving only a few higher than this, but this is clearly not going to be enough this year. My French neighbour has bought some special sticky tape from one of the big DIY shops who recommended it as a solution to the problem. He has wrapped this around his tree trunks at about 6ft high. The idea is that they cannot crawl over the sticky flycatcher-like tape. I thought this was a bit suspect as the moths fly into the trees in late spring to start a new egg-laying, nest-building cycle - but if they are poor fliers as reported earlier, maybe putting the tape at 2 metres or so will do the job. As we are back in the UK until April I can’t quote the exact name of the product, but it was something like Bande Glu. The drawbacks are that they are quite ugly and cost something like 12 euros for 5 metres, which does’nt go far. Also, you have to rasp the bark flat round the tree otherwise they will just scrawl underneeth. I am no gardener (in spite of all the hours I put in each year), but I remember seeing strips of sacking covered in gunge and wrapped aroung the trunks of small fruit trees in the UK and I wonder if there is some similar trick which might stop these caterpillars crawling up our trees to wrought havoc every year. Any ideas? Chico    Report

24/02/2007, 22:28 Jonzjob Joined on 23/08/2004 Nr Carcassonne, 11 Posts 3,006 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!! Hi Chico, I too think that your French neighbour has been led up the garden path if he has been told that sticky strips will stop the moths laying. It may well stop the catapillars coming down the tree to pupate though? The moths lay their eggs in the lower branches in the early autumn. You can see an example of the egg cluster on the first link on my first post on this thread. It's a long cluster of eggs on a pine needle. It's a good photo and just like the ones I have seen. Just pull them off and crush them under foot. They are not very high. As they grow they move further up the tree, so if you can spot them early it's much easier to get rid of them. With all the damage that is being done now I wonder if the government will do anything to get rid of them? Peut etra par? John. I am certain that there is too much certainty in the world!    Report

25/02/2007, 8:28 Lori Joined on 23/08/2004 Vaucluse (84) Posts 1,396 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!! Well when I went to the Mairie (in Bedoin - in the Vaucluse) to inquire about anything being done, they certainly didn't seem to care.  Neither did the Forestry Office.  I found it amazing.  The cocoons are everywhere round Bedoin and along the foothills of Mt. Ventoux. No one seems to care.      Report

25/02/2007, 9:31 Bugsy Joined on 15/11/2006 Vienne (86) Posts 4,173 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!! Interesting thread this. Found this site on Google and it has some good photos of these 'pesky critters' http://web.cortland.edu/fitzgerald/PineProcessionary.html "Life is Short - Forgive Quickly - Love Truly - Laugh Uncontrollably........ and get yourself an Apple Mac".    Report

25/02/2007, 10:23 Jonzjob Joined on 23/08/2004 Nr Carcassonne, 11 Posts 3,006 Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!!  Jonzjob wrote: Hi folks, for once I'm being serious. It's time for the pine processionaries to rear their lovely little heads again.  http://web.cortland.edu/fitzgerald/PineProcessionary.html it's just one of dozens of sites about them. Another site from Spain. Please forgive me for pinching it Louweezel  http://www.valenciatrader.com/index.php?sectionid=87&contentid=7567&parentid=102  Take care, it's a jungle out there (where have I heard that before?) Oh please BB, do pay attention!!. The quote above is about the site that I refered to in my opening post for this thread and again just before your reference in my last posting...  It's a very interesting site too ain't it!! If you are interested then this is a wonderful peice of research done by a Frenchman called J Henri Fabre in about 1916. It's a very interesting story and well worth the read.  http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/jhf/c01.html . John. I am certain that there is too much certainty in the world!    Report

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France Forum » French Culture » Wildlife/Nature... » Re: Pine processionary caterpillar time!!!

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