When entire bushes are covered in white webs in early summer, many people suspect a devastating pest infestation. At least the web moths that settle on the Pfaffenhütchen are not dangerous. Anyone who is bothered by the webs can prevent them or combat them directly.
How can you combat the Pfaffenhütchen web moth?
The Pfaffenhütchen web moth is a moth that lives on Pfaffenhütchen bushes. The caterpillars create webs and eat the leaves from May to June. Control measures include removing the infected branches, spraying the webs with water and promoting natural enemies such as parasitic wasps and predatory bugs.
Appearance
The Pfaffenhütchen web moth develops a wingspan between 18 and 24 millimeters. The small butterfly is easily recognizable by its light gray to white wings, which are dotted with black. The underwings appear brownish. When the butterfly is in the resting position, its wings are closed to form a steep roof.
The moths fly between July and August. Their eggs are rounded to flattened and initially yellow in color. They are covered in a sticky secretion that hardens and turns brown over time. The bodies of the larvae are light brown to dark green in color and have black spots. Her head appears yellowish to brown.
Lifestyle
The web moths lay around 50 to 100 eggs on the branches of the Pfaffenhütchen. They overwinter and emerge the next spring when the weather is warm and dry. The caterpillars bore tunnels into the leaves, which wither and die over time. Between May and June, the caterpillars live in fine webs that can sometimes cover entire trees. If there is a severe infestation, the bush can be completely bare.
About four to five days before pupation, which takes place from June to July, the web moths stop eating. The caterpillars form a dense web of cocoons in which the cocoons hang vertically. The next generation of nocturnal butterflies hatches after ten to 20 days.
Prevention and control
Normally, control is not necessary as Pfaffenhütchen survive the infestation well. To prevent this, you can scrape the eggs from the infected branches in winter. If you find pierced leaves during the spring, you can cut them off and dispose of them with general waste. Remove webs including caterpillars and cocoons by spraying the bush with a strong jet of water (€11.00 on Amazon).
If you promote natural enemies of the web moths, you ensure a natural balance. Parasitic wasps and predatory bugs keep the moth populations in check. They ensure that the voracious caterpillars cannot spread without restriction. The beneficial insects feel at home in naturally designed gardens.
Where parasitic wasps feel comfortable:
- in tufts of grass and tree stumps
- under loose tree bark and moss
- in flowers of umbelliferous plants
No danger
It seems as if the web moths have a firm grip on the bush and are about to destroy it. This makes them feared by many garden owners, but the Pfaffenhütchen are not harmed. However, the clown moths are not harmed, otherwise the web moths would destroy their own livelihoods. The bushes sprout again around June 24th, the so-called St. John's shoot.
