WHITE CLOUD, Mich. — Patricia Burke used to enjoy drinking coffee on the back deck, or tossing a baseball around with her son. But she will not do those things right now, as everywhere she looks outside is covered in gypsy moth caterpillars.
"I feel nasty," said Burke. "I feel like I need a shower just walking to my car and back."
The caterpillars are covering the garage, deck, chairs outside, vehicles and especially the trees. She wears a hat outside because the caterpillars themselves and their poop is constantly falling from the trees.
"It’s that, and the poop that falls from the sky," said Burke. "It sounds like rain if you listen. It’s just non-stop."
She is currently living with her in-laws, as her house is being built on the lot next door. Sure, the location is in the woods and she and her family have had gypsy moths in the past. However, it has never, ever been anything like this amount.
"Just the beauty of being out here," said Burke. "Putting our home here, we were so excited. Now, we can’t even just enjoy being out."
She is not alone. The Lower Peninsula is experiencing a massive uptick in the population of gypsy moths. Michael Phillip, the director of pesticide and plant pest management in Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), said the state is in the midst of a gypsy moth outbreak.
"As bad as it is out there, the caterpillars are not big yet," said Phillip. "Over the course of the next several weeks, they will grow and grow to the point where some of them are close to three inches long."
He said they will stop growing about the Fourth of July, when they will come down from the trees, pupate and have a quiet period. Then, they will emerge as adult months in huge population.
"They will get everywhere," said Phillip. "They'll crawl all over your house, all over your cars. It is an amazing experience, but not a good one, and a very heavy infestation."
So what can you do? Unfortunately, Phillip said the time has past for any large-scale aerial pesticide spraying. That is really the best way to prevent a massive outbreak like right now. There are some pesticides homeowners can use, and wrapping a tree base with burlap can help trap the worms, but neither option works well at this point in the summer.
The large-scale sprays are not organized on a statewide basis. Rather, it is local counties, townships and even neighborhoods that organize a spray. The spray programs have to be done by a licensed business by MDARD, and products used must be EPA approved.
"As bad as it is, and as bad as it's going to get," said Phillip, "gypsy moth populations will subside. They always have and they will. They are cyclical."
Some slight positive news is that trees can typically withstand gypsy moths. Even if all of its leaves are eaten, the tree can survive year after year.
However, Burke is sad to see the trees on their property bare like winter due to the caterpillars feasting.
"These trees were so beautiful, and they are just gone," said Burke. "All the flowers we planted, and put so much time into, they’re eating."
At this point, it is difficult to tell if next year's season will be just as bad. Usually egg pockets can be analyzed in size to reflect the upcoming season by late summer or fall.
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