Let's Talk About Insects

Locals said fuzzy gypsy moth caterpillars are eating their trees and flowers.

Craig Dietz pointed out the many trees surrounding his house on four wooded acres in Hellam Township. The oaks were bare, as were his hemlock, rose bush, rhododendrons and just about every other plant with foliage on his property.
And no, it wasn't winter. Dietz was wearing shorts, flip-flops and a sleeveless shirt.

It was June - Tuesday to be exact.

And Dietz wasn't happy.

Steady as raindrops, fuzzy gypsy moth caterpillars have been dropping from his trees on Oakview Lane for about three weeks. They have been feasting on anything green and alive before metamorphosing into adult gypsy moths.

The ground rippled like a sea of fur Tuesday as the caterpillars searched for their next meal. They scoured the side of his house, trash can and deck. They swarmed in clumps on the surrounding trees. If Dietz stood still too long, one would inch its way up the side of his leg.

He, his wife and their two children have spent the past 10 years on their property, landscaping and caring for the existing plants. And for the past month, he has slowly watched his hard work eaten away by small, brown, furry caterpillars. "It's a nightmare," he said.

Dietz is one of many York County residents who are victims of a gypsy moth outbreak this year. A combination of a dry early spring, a cyclic ramping-up of caterpillar eggs and no pesticide spraying in the area last year led to an outbreak this year, said Diane Oleson, York County gypsy moth coordinator for Penn State Cooperative Extension.

Oleson said the extension received some calls last summer about large numbers of caterpillar egg masses, but it was too late to be a part of the state's spraying program, usually performed in the spring.

Now, she said, the damage is largely done and the caterpillars will soon enter the pupal stage. By July, most of the caterpillars will have disappeared. However, a survey will be carried out in July and August to determine if York County can apply for a state-sponsored spraying program in 2008, which would prevent an outbreak next year.

Other than just being creepy and annoying, the caterpillars cause defoliation, which stresses plants. Dietz, who has some young trees on his property, said he is most worried that they will not be able to survive the stress and will die. But Oleson said most trees will survive and might grow new leaves in August; she recommends water and fertilizer to help them recover.

For now, Oleson said, the situation might be unpleasant for a while. She recommends powerwashing the insects from the side of homes with a soap-and-water mix, which she said works well to kill them.

Dietz said he has tried pesticides to spray around his house, but a $20 bottle lasts him only two days, and the caterpillars just keep coming back. He said he wishes the state Department of Environmental Protection would worry less about deer and more about these pests. He's hoping his property will be sprayed by the state next spring so his trees will be able to recover.

Neil and Frances Courtright, Paul Nace and some of their neighbors in Hellam Township aren't waiting until next year.

They have hired a private company to drop insecticide by helicopter on their properties this week. They hope to prevent any further damage this season and limit the numbers for next year.

They are suffering much like Dietz and hope to be included in next year's state-sponsored spraying to prevent this from happening again.

Nace said he has had to block off his chimney to prevent the caterpillars from coming into his living room. His wife took the couple's collie and left the house for a little vacation to get away from the forest of caterpillars surrounding their house in the 5500 block of Furnace Road.

"It's an experience that ...," he paused and shook his head while standing in NeFra printing company, owned by the Courtrights. "It's bad."

He said his blue spruces are picked clean - a favorite of the caterpillars - and his two 100-foot tall white oaks are stripped.

Courtright said they will be charged more than $60 an acre to have their properties sprayed with pesticide this week.

What's creeping around your back door?

See for yourself in a new Kentucky-made documentary that's not just for gardeners and entomologists. Children are fascinated by "Garden Insects," an up-close look at bees and other bugs by Chris Korrow, a Burkesville, Ky., filmmaker and organic farmer.

The 50-minute documentary features colorful photography, original guitar music and narration by Korrow, who teaches gardening and has raised organic food for 17 years.

In the film, Korrow provides factual information about a variety of insects, ranging from tiny ants to the impressive praying mantis. He tells viewers which ones are good for the garden and which ones are destructive.

Korrow said he decided to make the film about backyard bugs when he realized that few people in his gardening classes knew anything about insects. He shot the documentary almost entirely in his own yard using a mini-DVD camera with 35mm lenses.

Although Korrow produced the documentary with adult gardeners in mind, parents tell him that their children watch it over and over because they love the face-to-face views of the insects. What began as a modest education film by an environmentalist has turned out to be a surprise hit with teachers and parents -- and a film festival award-winner.

A short version of the film was a winner among 130 submissions at this year's Earthvision Environmental Film Festival in Santa Cruz, Calif., and a 30-minute version of the documentary will be aired nationally on some PBS stations beginning July 8. And so far, Korrow has sold 50 DVDs of the film.

His next film project is more ambitious. He plans to make a feature-length film entitled "Dancing with Thoreau," about society's disconnection from the natural world.

Farmworkers exposed to high levels of pesticides, as well as home gardeners who use these chemicals to kill insects and fungus on their house plants, run a higher risk of brain cancer, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Researchers in southwestern France looked at 221 cases of brain tumours and matched those cases with 442 healthy individuals of similar age and background from the general population.

They found that all agriculture workers exposed to pesticides had a slightly elevated risk to the disease compared with healthy counterparts.

Those exposed to the highest levels of the chemicals ran more than twice the risk, and especially so with a form of cancer known as glioma, which is rapidly lethal.

A "significant increase" in cancer risk was also seen among people who treated house plants with pesticides.

The study, released online Tuesday by the British journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, adds to previous investigations into the link between pesticides and cancer.

The research took place in the Bordeaux wine-growing region, where 80 percent of all pesticides used are fungicides. The chemicals are mixed and sprayed in a mist to protect vines from fungus attack.