Last summer, and also in the summer of 2016, tent caterpillars were a plague on Weyburn, being found everywhere, and even landing on our shoulders.

While they weren’t causing damage to crops or harming people, tent caterpillars were definitively at the population level of being pests. So, for the past two summers, the City applied a pesticide to the trees in Weyburn.

This year, however, spraying was not even necessary.

“We didn’t do any spraying this year,” said Parks Co-Ordinator Linda Prokott. “The population of a tent caterpillar is cyclical, so I think we’re just in one of those years where the population is down.”

Prokott noted that tent caterpillars mainly feed on ash trees.

“They just defoliate them, so it doesn’t kill the tree. They just feed on the foliage,” she explained.

She added that the heavy rains earlier in the season are likely a contributing factor to this year's low tent caterpillar populations.

Those nostalgic for the creepy crawlies can see last year's coverage of the infestation HERE.