How to get rid of caterpillars?

Have you identified what kind of caterpillars these are? They may be beneficial to have in your garden.

Leave the nests alone. And really, just let the birds feast in your garden.

Two bricks with the caterpillars between.

@zenvelo I only know they are black, with white fur like “hairs” and there is too much of them.

I don’t mind them helping around, but they don’t seem to help and there is more of them than anyone needs.

I spray the net nests with the wasp and Hornet sprays out in a jet. You can buy organic, if that is your want.

The outside walls, you might hose the bugs down, then bug spray them.

They can kill plants and young trees, and it’s been my experience that, once established, they get worse year after year until you attack. I stayed with it until all the web’s were gone from my trees one year, and they’ve not been back.

Time is the best response. In time, most of them will turn into butterflies (or more likely in this case, gypsy moths).

It’s an act of nature, obviously, whatever they are, this is their season. Just leave them alone. They can’t harm you or your house, and they will be making their cocoons soon to maybe morph into moths or butterflies next spring. There is absolutely no reason to kill them, none whatsoever other than your own issues, which are your issues not the caterpillars.

Don’t birds eat them? I would put out some seeds to attract the birds.

@Sneki95

Do you live on the east coast? Are these what you’re talking about? it says they have huge hatches every few years and are very beneficial to the environment and birds.
www.rivercare.org/news/tent-caterpillars-are-for-the-birds

@Coloma
No, I don’t live in the east coast. Also, the caterpillars here are completely black, without those marks. I am not sure, but I think that’s not the same species.
Also, I don’t exactly want to eradicate them, just to keep them off my house and reduce the amount of them, at most.

@YARNLADY
I will try that, maybe it will work.

Phone the Health dept.
They should not be in the house.

@Inspired_2write Haha, really?
The health dept.? These Caterpillars may be slightly annoying swarming all over but they are not a health hazard. These little dudes are completely harmless.

There is no such thing as “should” when it comes to nature. people need to be more tolerant and get over thinking that their organism is the only one that counts. The human pest is the most invasive of all. This is just a cycle of nature, soon they will be gone, hibernating in their cocoons until they hatch out as moths.

https://www.reference.com/pets-animals/black-fuzzy-caterpillars-poisonous-fd5ac65bf7108ed6

Here is a link to identify type of catepiller that you may be encountering.
I keyed in Black Catepiller as the is what you mentioned in your post.
I just read a blog/comment about one lady who had severe problems with infestation.
bottom line..remove food source and catepillers will leave.
Good luck, I would not want that in my home.

@Inspired_2write The only black species mentioned only live in Brazil and Venezuela, the other species is black & white. Most species that excrete venom do so to protect themselves from predation by birds and the venom or stinging is not a serious threat. The article also says that the attitude towards these creatures is rather alarmist. My point exactly.

Picking up a honey bee will get you stung as well. Simple solution, don’t pick up strange insects if you don’t know what they are.
Most Caterpillars feed on leaves and plants so removing their food sources are impossible unless they are grain moths whose larvae get into flour, cornmeal etc.

There is absolutely nothing to be freaked out about, leave them alone, they will leave you alone and after a few weeks at most they will disappear into their cocoons. All things contribute to the whole of nature. Why do you think that other species should not be allowed to exist just because they might offend you being what they are? Do they not have a right to exist? Pffft!

I happen to love insects and learning about the life cycles of different species, something more people should do before letting their neuroses take over.

My father used to pour gasoline in a cup, toss the gas up into the web in the tree, then set the web on fire with a lighted newspaper torch.
I won’t even pretend I understand any of that. Please, just don’t shoot the reporter (me).

@ibstubro Fear not, but yeah, man, talk about crazy ignorant practices, all over a short term, harmless Caterpillar hatch. Sheesh.
I know a women and once I was at her home, way out on the sidewalk and she saw a few ants and flipped out and was going to go for the poison. There were hundreds of honey bees all over her lavender plants that were hanging over the sidewalk and I told her to not poison the ants as it would be very bad/kill the bees. Seriously, WTF…the 7 ants she saw were 50 feet away from her house.

People, this sort of crap makes me insane.
The instant, rote, unquestioned, “quick, kill them all now!” mentality.

@Coloma I agree. The mass killing of bees in Florida (collateral damage!) is sickening.