Pine processionary (pine caterpillar)
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| geppo23. 02. 2023 08:49:16 |
A few days ago, my wife and I spent a few days in Bovec. We visited various sights in the area (Korita, Lepena, Kluže etc.). We were surprised at how pine caterpillars - pine processionary - have spread from the coastal to the alpine world. It was interesting to us that in Log pod Mangartom the pines are infected almost right up to the border with Italy. Further on, we no longer noticed any cocoons on the tops of the pines. Even on the descent to the Italian side, no cocoons were visible on the pines. But on our side, there is a frighteningly large amount. Even in Triglav National Park.
So far, I haven't seen anything about measures against this pest?
I convinced myself that removing the nest is extremely difficult. It's so stuck to the needles that you really have to make an effort to remove it.
Regards
https://www.dominvrt.si/rubrika/zivali/gosenica-bor-metulj.html
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| mirank23. 02. 2023 20:55:01 |
At our place on the north slope of Kras there are no more of them and that's since last July
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| geppo24. 02. 2023 08:17:36 |
Well, do you know the reason why there are none?
I doubt anyone is removing them?
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| foxy24. 02. 2023 08:30:57 |
in my opinion the fire took them 
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| geppo24. 02. 2023 08:55:20 |
Yes, of course I didn't think of that. Maybe they're chemically suppressing them somewhere? or will they leave everything to the natural course?
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| geofor24. 02. 2023 23:27:28 |
Last week I was on Hvar in Croatia. The situation with the processionary is catastrophic according to my knowledge and what I saw. There are impossibly many everywhere. The caterpillars are leaving the cocoons at this time, you encounter them practically everywhere. In Jelsa we ran into a several-meter-long column of caterpillars, we retreated in time and our little dog, luckily, got away without consequences. We saw processionary columns all over the island, from Hvar to Stari Grad, and all the way to Sućuraj in the east. I didn't notice them (caterpillars) only on the ascent to the top of Sveti Nikola, and even there we started the ascent at the ranch, half an hour below the summit. Overall, there is very little dense pine forest around the summit.
For dogs, every close encounter is very dangerous.
As far as I could gather from the media, chemical control is no longer used, they are physically removed (depending on the local community) only in areas around schools and kindergartens - nowhere on Hvar.
Some biological control is used, but not at this time but later (September and October).
And as someone unfortunately wrote, if the pine burns, then there's no processionary either. Unfortunately, even without fires, a huge number of pine trees will perish, because the caterpillars, by gnawing the needles substantially, weaken the tree to the point that it dies. Locals showed me an area above Hvar town (direction of Fort Napoleon), where a third of the pine trees have turned brown ... .
In conversations with locals, we learned that dog walks are limited to purely urban areas where there are no pines.
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| turbo25. 02. 2023 08:36:08 |
It's similar in neighboring Friuli too, for many years now. Especially the pre-alpine area of the Carnic and Julian Alps, where there is quite a bit of pine forest, is heavily affected. I remember some trips in past years when I still had my little dog, that I preferred to carry her in my arms in some places, there were so many caterpillars on the ground. Real columns of those hairy ones, nice to look at otherwise, but when you looked at the pines, they suddenly weren't sympathetic anymore.
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| geppo25. 02. 2023 09:18:39 |
I was most surprised in Log pod Mangartom. That they are already so high up. Do sub-zero temperatures not harm them at all?
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| turbo25. 02. 2023 09:27:48 |
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| geppo25. 02. 2023 09:32:49 |
Well, great
I'm just waiting when I'll spot them in "our" parts
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