Bagworms are caterpillars that live in spindle-shaped sacs that they build to protect themselves.
Made of silk threads and bits of foliage, these bags look so much like part of the tree that you might not notice them until they’ve done a lot of damage. You’ll have to get really close to see the little guys, which are 1/4 inch long to begin with, so you’ll need keen eyesight.
In early June, bagworms hatch from eggs that have overwintered in the old sacs and begin spinning their own sacs. In June, July and August, bagworms nibble on their favorite foods: pine, spruce, arborvitae and juniper. If left unchecked, they can easily kill a tree in a matter of weeks. When evergreens aren’t handy, bagworms aren’t choosy; They also eat 128 species of plants, including deciduous trees and shrubs, but since these leaves regrow, the damage isn’t usually as severe.
FARM AND GARDEN: The Illinois Master Naturalist Program is accepting applications for August training
Each female pouch can produce up to 1,000 babies. Bagworms stop growing in late August or early September. By this point, the sacks are about two inches long and pesticides are no longer effective. The winged male, a small, furry black moth with clear wings, fertilizes the wingless, maggot-like, yellowish-white female, which never leaves the pouch. (Quite a femme fatale, huh?) She puts eggs in the bag where they spend the winter. There is only one generation each year (a small blessing).
When you find bags in the tree, pick them up and drop them in a bucket of soapy water. This method is only effective if you catch them before the eggs hatch from the bags in June. If there is a hole at the bottom of the bag, then thousands of baby caterpillars have already flown out of the coop and you need to move on to plan B.
Plan B: Spraying the bags with insecticides. For the greenest attack, use a biorational pesticide like Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki, aka (BTK) and found in Dipel and Thuricide, and Spinosad (organically grown and found in products like Conserve). The biorational materials only kill the caterpillars, not beneficial insects like bees, praying mantises and butterflies. Biorational pesticides are most effective when directed against small larvae. As always with pesticides, read and follow labels to ensure safe and effective use.
Check for live bagworms (they wiggle when they eat) two weeks after application to see if you need to spray again. As the bags approach their full size, pesticides become ineffective. Hand picking is the best control measure at this point.
For more information on bagworms, visit the University of Illinois Extension Focus on Plant Problems website.
My Town: Clint Walker’s Memoirs of Coles County from the Archives
Cosmic Blue Comics
From the Journal Gazette of November 22, 1992, this photo by Cosmic Blue Comics in Mattoon; where I spent practically every Saturday afternoon for about two years. That little back room to the right of the Coca-Cola sign was where the many, I mean many, long crates of old issues were kept. I still have my boxed copy of Tales of the Beanworld issue #1 that I found there. Unfortunately, this place is now just a “green space”.
Mattoon Arcade
Pictured is Bob Murray of Shelbyville from the June 2, 1982 Journal Gazette demonstrating his dominance over the TRON arcade game at the Carousel Time arcade in the Cross County Mall, which would later become Aladdin’s Castle, to soon after not being a thing anymore. I spent almost every Saturday in this arcade, maybe with the exact same hairdo. However, without overalls. I was more of an “Ocean Pacific” kid.
Icenogles
Pictured November 28, 1988, Journal Gazette, Icenogle Grocery Store. Being from Cooks Mills, we didn’t shop at Icenogle’s often…but when we did, I knew from a young age that’s how a grocery store should be in a perfect world, and not just because she had it Wooden floors, comics on magazine racks, or lots, and I mean lots of trading cards in wax packs.
cooks mills
By the time this showcase article about Adam’s Groceries appeared in the Journal Gazette of June 13, 1998, I had long since moved away from Cooks Mills, but there was a time when I could very well have been one of those kids in this photograph; because if it was summer and you had a bike and you lived in Cooks Mills, that’s where you ended up. According to last report they still had Tab in the Pepsi cooler on the back. I am seriously considering asking my money man if I could afford to reopen this place.
Mr Music
Pictured from the Journal Gazette, July 16, 1987, this ad for Mister Music, formerly located on the Cross County Mall. I didn’t buy records at that age, but eventually I would and it all went under. If you think hanging out with your buddies at a record store on a Friday night with a hot driver’s license fresh in your wallet doesn’t sound “cool” then you’re right. But it’s the best a geek like me could do. Wherever you are today, owners of Mister Music, please know that a Minutemen album I found in your cheap bin changed my life.
Sound source guitar throw
Portrait of the author as a young man attempting to throw a guitar through a target at this year’s Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest, April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette. Check out my grunge era hoodie, and yes… look closely, those are Air Jordans you see on my feet. Addendum: Contrary to the cutline, I didn’t win a guitar.
Pictured, clipped from the online archives at JG-TC.com, an April 18, 1994 photograph, Journal Gazette of Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest winner and current JG-TC employee Clint Walker.
vets
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow, Vette’s Teen Club, from the Journal Gazette June 20, 1991. I wasn’t “cool” enough to hang around behind Vette in his “heyday,” and by “cool enough” I mean “not practiced enough.” in parking lot fights”. If only I could dare now.
FutureGen
FutureGen: The End of the Beginning and Eventually the Beginning of the End, December 19, 2007, JG-TC. I wish I had paid more attention back then. I probably should have read the newspaper.
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