What's your wooly caterpillar forecast?

[StevenW.]

Hardly seen any wooly worms this year..

The ones I have seen were either brown, black, black/orange, black/brown, and I did see a light yellowish colored one this year also.

 

[BusyBlonde]

The only wooly caterpillar I saw this year was solid black. The oaks had a bumper crop of acorns this year - I've never seen so many in all the years they've been here! Makes for happy squirrels.

Keeps 'em out of my feeder a little bit, it seems.

 

[Avalon1984]

My wooly worms said all that it would be a terrible start, mild middle and terrible end. So far we have had nothing but terrible. I have been trying to put all those buggers in a warm space so they change their forecase but no luck so far.

 

[LittleChickenLady]

Quote:

I haven't seen any yet this year though.

 

[Stacykins]

I only found one woolly a few weeks ago, and it was solid chestnut brown with no black banding. Dunno what that means though. I'm in da UP, so winter is always harsh. We're already stocked up on food, water, toilet paper, and have enough nut coal and firewood to last into next winter, hah. Great thing about a wood and coal fired furance, if da power goes out, just pop out the filter and it heats the house just fine through simple convection (furnace is in the basement, so hot air rises, cool air falls, perfect!), and it really works. Of course we have a generator for power and gasoline to run it, but heat is the most important thing in a winter power outage here, so we're set.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:

I haven't seen any yet this year though.

Really? I have seen more this year than ever before. Does that multiply the wintery effect????

 

[chicmom]

The ones I've seen were all black too. I will pretend that I'm not superstitious and try not to believe that our winter will be harsh....

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
Will you call me when stuff goes downhill? You guys are usually a couple weeks ahead of us

 

[Stacykins]

Quote:
Will you call me when stuff goes downhill? You guys are usually a couple weeks ahead of us

Haha, sure, but this year has been upside down already! I mean, the east coast got slammed with snow before we've even seen a single flake!

 

[Linn Bee]

I have LOTS of wooly bear caterpillars around here. I guess the chickens haven't spotted near as many as I have.

My research into this year's wooly bear prediction started in early September. To date, I have seen equal numbers of all light wooly bears and all black wooly bears. I have also seen wooly bears with a large 'saddle' of light and a very few with a little 'saddle' of lighter color.

Therefore, according to my scientific research into the subject, the winter weather for 2011-2012 is uncertain.

Now if you want to rely on acorn research. . .

Love, Linn B (aka Smart Red) Gardening zone 5a - 4b in south-est, central-est Wisconsin