The fall webworm caterpillars (Hyphantria cunea) are back for their annual mid-summer sojourn in central Maine. We have a healthy crop this year. There’s a good chance you do too. Their webs are unsightly to some eyes, but they rarely do enough damage to put the life of an apple tree in danger.

If you do want to be rid of the pesky creatures, you have an assortment of choices. You can pick them off. Tedious but it does work. You can do as my father-in-law used to do 60 years ago. According to Cammy, he would dip a rag in kerosine, attach it to a bamboo pole, light it up and burn them out. It worked, but it’s not the safest technique in a drought. You can spray Dipel (Bacillus thuringiensis), a relatively benign but effective organic spray that kills the caterpillars. You can also ignore them and allow them to eat the foliage off a few branches on your favorite trees. Meanwhile they provide food for various birds and insects. I mostly let them be, though this year I might spray Dipel to knock them back. Time will tell.