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sheeshshe
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What is black stuff looks like tar on my apple tree?

The other day, I went out and saw there was some stuff on the branch that looked a bit like tar. It was black and hard and shiny, I was able to scrape it off, and it looked like maybe eggs? Or maybe it is a disease or something? It wasn't oozing or anything. Does anyone know what it may have been, it was in two different places. I can't seem to figure out how to google that online :)

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ReptileAddiction
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Do you have a picture?

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applestar
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Try "tent caterpillar egg mass"

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rainbowgardener
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oh, good job, applestar! I wouldn't have known. But the picture certainly fits sheeshe's description:


eastern tent caterpillar, egg mass:

Image
https://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/t ... mass_3.jpg

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sheeshshe
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yes! that is totally what it looked like, thank you so much! you all rock! off to read more about them :)

BTW, I've been dumping lime around the trees, and they're finally growing! yeah!

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ReptileAddiction
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Wow, that is one weird looking thing to find on your tree. I have never seen anything like that out here.

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rainbowgardener
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Yeah, there's a lot of the bug kingdom that you folks just don't have. Some of it like the Japanese Beetle is because it was imported in to the US on the east coast and hasn't succeeded in spreading across the country (yet?). Some of it because it is just too dry for them. I grew up in Southern California and I had never seen a firefly/ lightening bug until I moved out here. You don't have mosquitos like we do either, maybe a few teeny ones, but not the swarms of huge ones we get. In Minnesota they call mosquitos the state bird. :) But Minnesota is also the "land of 10,000 lakes." Lots of water!

But you make up for it in arachnids. Black widow spiders! Scorpions! The house we lived in longest when I was growing up, was in Anaheim. It was new construction in what had been orange groves until then. It was full of black widow spiders for the first few years. We got very good at ID'ing them.

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ReptileAddiction
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Yes your right. I am lucky that I am inland enough that it is sunny almost every day but I am not so inland that I have scorpions and stuff.

We also have stuff like mountain lions and rattlesnakes. In the nursery I work at we have quite a few kingsnakes. They are not dangerous though and we just pick them up and move them to the field behind the store.

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sheeshshe
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Life would be better without japanese beetles!!!!

My son found another one of those egg masses yesterday. I was standing there and he was like, "what is this slug on the tree?" haha. I wonder though, if I didn't throw them far enough from the tree, they're just going to crawl back on the tree, right??

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applestar
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They are extremely mobile. I would be sure to completely dispose of them (I.e. Don't just toss them). They are also non-selective or at least have distressingly multiple choice menu and can "pitch" their tent on other trees/shrubs and munch their way to next generation.

Being on the ground could make them vulnerable to predators, but you want to be sure.

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sheeshshe
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shoot. why do I always do these things, I just don't think! same goes for the potato beetle larvae situation. I just tossed those on the ground too. I keep thinking something that tiny can't get around without being on its host! not true!!!!!

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applestar
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Once they are on the ground, they become fair game to many predators. You might be OK.

I found THESE on my Enterprise apple tree, just one branch over from the fruit while I was looking for a good angle to take a picture of it :x
Attachments
I chopped up the denuded branch and turned over<br />that leaf caterpillars down after taking the picture.
I chopped up the denuded branch and turned over
that leaf caterpillars down after taking the picture.
image.jpg (52.29 KiB) Viewed 12419 times

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sheeshshe
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ewww yuck!!! nasty nasty! that would have been a nice tasty treat for my chickens though :) that is the only nice part about finding bugs. food for the chickens! they love japenese beetles

Mhasan
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Can I send mine over to you? I found about 20 between my two peach trees. Unfortunately they seem to do the most damage during the day when I can't get to them.

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applestar
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I was only walking UNDER the apple tree, not intending to work on it at all. just *casually* looked up and saw first one then the other :evil: TENT CATERPILLAR EGG MASSES Ugh! :evil:
image.jpeg
...looking back at the dates on the OP and subsequent discussion, this is the right time of the year to find (to be LOOKING FOR) them I guess...



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