No Messing Around

Sometime in the middle of July a small web was discovered in our crabapple tree.

But this kind of web is not made by a spider. Let's take a closer look.

Webworms! Ew! I don't know how they found our tree. This is the first time I've seen them on our property, and let me tell you, they are most unwelcome guests.

There are three options for ridding your tree of webworms:

#1. If it is a small web on a branch that can be easily reached, soak a cotton ball in nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol. Put the cotton ball in a plastic bag, slide the bag over the branch with the webworms and tie the end around the branch. The fumes will kill the webworms in a few minutes.

#2. If there are a large number of webs throughout the tree, call your local certified arborist to properly treat the tree with an insecticide.

Thankfully, the web on our crabapple was just a small web on a very easily-accessible branch. I was preparing to do Option #1, but my husband decided to bring out the heavy artillery, aka Option #3:

Cut off the branch and KILL THEM WITH FIRE!

Which is more dramatic, complete and - quite frankly - much more fun.