ALLEGAN COUNTY, Mich. — Throughout West Michigan there has been an increased sighting of spongy moths in and around people's homes. Spongy moths, formerly known as gypsy moths and renamed in recent years, appear around this time every year. However, one Allegan County resident said that this year the moths have completely taken over the outside of her home.
"I have a company coming out to spray around my house because literally there are thousands on my garage on my house," said Michelle Hiemstra-Young.
In Allegan County and throughout West Michigan, there are easily a hundred spongy moths for every person. Young said she is fed up with the amount she's seeing on her home.
"I came home the other night and they were all over my front door. We have to check ourselves before we come in, our dogs just to make sure that we're not covered in them. They're a huge problem," said Young.
Brian Talsma, the Executive Director of the Allegan Conservation District, said during this time of year, spongy moths are more prevalent due to the warm weather and wet spring season.
"Even though they're not native, they're here to stay pretty much. Since there's not a lot of natural predators, their populations build up slowly over time until we get to an outbreak, like we have right now. Then shortly after, there's a disease and a fungus that affects them that causes the population to crash," said Talsma.
Talsma said within the next month the caterpillars will grow to be full-sized moths. He also said people can eradicate the spongy moths from their homes and trees by hosing them or drenching the moths in soapy water.
"So typically, people will use a brush or a broom to sweep large areas of them into a bucket. I've had creative folks use a wet dry vacuum full of soapy water and just vacuum them up. For trees, we recommend using a couple of different banding techniques that can trap those caterpillars before they get up into the leaves. Trapping them on the trunk before they get up to those leaves can help to prevent that," said Talsma.
"It's, it's disheartening, because there's a lot of other fun things I would rather be doing," said Young.
Talsma said around the month of July, people should start seeing the spongy moths disappear.
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