Eastern Tent Caterpillars

The caterpillars feed on leaves of these host trees, and may cause significant defoliation when present in large numbers. Caterpillars wander when they are ready to pupate, crawling on houses and decks.
First, be sure you have eastern tent caterpillars, and not another similar pest. Eastern tent caterpillars build their tents in the crotches of tree branches and appear in early spring.
Eastern tent caterpillars rarely infest ornamental trees in large enough numbers to kill your landscape plants. Because they appear in early spring and complete their life cycle by summer, the host trees have time to produce more leaves after being defoliated. If you have a few caterpillar tents in an apple or cherry tree, don't panic. Control of the pests may not be necessary at all. If the infestation is significant or you just can't stand the sight of caterpillar tents in your trees, there are some things you can do.
Remove the caterpillars by hand. The caterpillars will rest inside their tent after they feed. When you see a large group of caterpillars in the tent, use a stick or gloved hands to pull the tent from the branches, caterpillars and all. For a large tent, you can wind the silk around a stick as you pull it from the tree. You can crush the caterpillars or drop them in a pan of soapy water. In the fall, once leaves have fallen, look for egg masses on twigs of the host trees. Prune out any you find, or scrape them from the branch and destroy them.
Young larvae may be treated with Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki, or Bt. Bt is a naturally occurring bacteria that interferes with the caterpillar's ability to digest food. It must be applied to the foliage of the infested trees. The caterpillars ingest Bt as they eat, and will stop eating immediately and die within a few days. You do not need to spray the tents or the caterpillars.

Minnesota Weather and Mulch

We have been getting lots of questions about what type of mulch to use in your garden beds, rock or a shredded wood.  Both are good to use in their own applications, but the plant type plays a more important part in picking the type of mulch.  For example if you have a sunny garden bed and use are planting perennials you would want to use a wood mulch, and here is why.  The rock on a sunny day gets hot under the sun as you well know, but when perennials are added you can stress out and at times even kill these plants by the intense heat.  The sun hits the plants from above and the rock bakes them from under, way to much stress.  A shredded wood be the perfect mulch for water retention and to not hold so much heat.
A rock mulch works better with shrubs and trees because of the age of the shrub or tree is a few years.  They can handle more of heat from the sun mixed in with the heat of the rocks.

June Weather

It seems that Minnesota will never have spring?  One day it's over 100 degrees and the next we drop down to 54 degrees.  So much has been going on at Halla Nursery this past month that I have forgotten to write in our blog.  Well I promise from this day forward, even if its something small I will write.
So lets catch you up to date here. 
The retail store is is all done for the 2011 remodel, and the store has its new layout.  Our staff has changed, with us hiring people with the plant knowledge that I will put up against any nursery any day.
As far as garden tips go, its not to late to start your vegetable gardens, and here at Halla we have hundreds of plants to choose from.