Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Catalpa Tree Location

Guys looking for some catalpa tree experts to help me in deciding where to plant a couple of trees i recently recieved from a friend. They are still pretty small and will leave them in pots until the winter when i plan to plant them. I have 5 of them and was thinking about planting them about 50ft from the edge of my pond. My question is, can they become an eye sore once the worms get to feeding on the leaves in the spring and summer and how bad do they drop leaves in the fall and winter. Would hate to get up one morning and have the pond covered in leaves from the wind. Is it a good idea to plant them in the general area of the pond or should i plant them as far as possible and not quite in easy site view of my pond. I have 10 acres where the pond is located but also have a couple of acres down the road without a pond that i can plant them. Also does anybody recommend a site where i can purchase live worms in a few years to transplant onto the trees if they do not come naturally. Any suggestions

I have never seen the worms completely denude the trees of leaves, but they will thin them out heavily in bad years. Are they an eye sore, perhaps...

They do drop their leaves and their leaves are HUGE! So if you plant them near a pond, you can expect many of the leaves to end up in the pond.

Where you plant them is up to you. They do seem to do better in moderately damp soil. Their flowers are gorgeous in the spring and the worms do make a good bait.

What are you trying to accomplish by planting them near the pond and what is the major purpose of planting them?

Don't know of where you can buy worms, but finding worms to collect is usually as easy as just finding a catalpa tree in the area to pick a few dozen off of. Of the two batches of catalpa trees I have planted, one ended up with worms without any help the other I had to seed.

Well my major purpose is the bait but i am also looking for trees to plant around the pond for shade and landscaping so thought i may be able to kill 2 birds with one stone. Any idea on how long it takes them to get big enough for the worms to start feeding? They are currently about 3' tall.

I should take time to get a pic for you. I planted them last summer in the heat. Forestry commision forgot to tell me they arrived and they were dried up twigs. I thought no way woudl any make it. CJ is right the oens with moderate dampness made it those sittign too wet by my creek did not. I can not believe how big they are now. They are huge and kinda dissappointed no catalpa worms have shwn up. i guess I will start looking. You thought this thru better than I. They are right by the pond so hope the grass carp eat the leaves.

hey grimes
must of the time you have to take worms from someone elses tree and put them on your tree and after that they take over. thats what i had to do. wasp love to eat catapla worms so if you have alot of wasp around make sure you get a bunch of your buddies worms when you put them on your tree to ensure some make it.

Thx for the advice. We got wasp everywhere. My question is where the heck do I find some worms? Growing up I knew of all the local catalpa worm spots. Man it was hard to beat them for catching about anything. I will make a point to be on the look out. Excited the wife thinks they look cool to boot (the trees nto the worms). She too is happy about the awesome growth. Boughtt he only thign growgin in this drought. She may not like the fact the worms eat the leaves but they will grow back. I like the food chain part of these trees (Nutrients- Leaves-Worms-Fish)

I've seen a lot of catalpa trees but never seen a worm. I've been looking for years.

some of the trees around here get hundreds on them i don't know if you can send them things through the mail. i don't know the laws on that i will have to look into that i could send you some if legal

Maybe next Spring when they get started. I'll pay the postage. No idea whether they would live in our heat.

not sure it gets pretty hot here in south ga

Handy Farms (903-860-2507) Scroggins, TX
(HOME OF THE SCROGGINS CATALPA WORM FESTIVAL)
2005 Scroggins, TX Catalpa Worm Festival

I've been looking on trees for many years after finding a tree completely covered when I was a little kid.. I have never found them on another tree, and never seen them on that same tree since that one summer.. I think it has something to do with the winters up here killing the worms off.. Basically I haven't fished with a real catalpa worm in prolly 20+ yrs..

They're few and far between here too. (the worms, not the trees) IIRC, there's a wasp that lays it's eggs right in the worm, on the tree. Found it, it's the trichogramma wasp.

Catalpa worms, also known as catawbas, are the caterpillar stage of the Sphinx moth. They attack catalpa trees and are recognized pests in many areas. However, catalpa worms are prized as catfish bait and some growers nurture trees just for harvesting and sales to fishermen.

Like many other caterpillars, catalpas spend the winter underground in the pupae stage. Generally, the soil around catalpa trees will be prime nursery territory. As spring nears, or temperatures are warming, adults emerge to mate. Females deposit eggs in a mass on the leaves� undersides, abandoning their young afterward. A week later, up to 1,000 eggs can hatch from a single adult. In this stage, catalpas are recognized by a horn-like spike at the rear. For about three weeks, the catalpa worms feed and grow, moving from leaf to leaf in a solid wave of defoliation.

The cycle begins again when the catalpa worm drops to the ground and pupates, preparing for adulthood. Typically a complete catalpa life cycle is about six weeks, which means several generations can occur within a single year. Only the last hatching in the fall leaves the pupae overwintering underground.

Most trees can withstand several seasonal attacks from catalpa worms. They�ll refoliate quickly, although some show stress over time. Limbs may die back and in the case of unhealthy or immature trees, they may fail to thrive at all. The main nuisance is the unsightly appearance caused by catalpa worms.

Three prevention and control methods may help in reducing catalpa worm infestation. Hand picking the egg masses is time-consuming but effective on smaller trees and low-hanging branches. Chemical spraying may reduce the effects on large trees. Tilling the area around the trees, with care taken for the root system, may disturb and kill the pupae. Many experts recommend no action is necessary.

What makes them so appealing to catfish is what�s inside the catalpa worm. That is, the neon green goo that oozes out appears to be the fatal attraction. Experts report these �innards� are also aromatic, sending out sweet signals that many fish find attractive. Even after the worms have been threaded on a hook, they continue to be active.

Catalpa worms can also be frozen and returned to their live state when thawed. Just add them to sawdust or cornmeal in a glass jar, seal it, and place in the freezer. Let them warm up slowly and catalpa worms are ready to bring home the catch!

http://www.allaboutworms.com/catalpa-worms

Wow you can freeze them and bring them back that's pretty cool..


Note to self..!

My Father used to tell me about using them for fish bait. He said that they would, in some way, use a hook and turn them inside out before putting them in the water.

Eric, I guess there is a festival for just about everything.

So after this topic yesterday, I'm sitting at my sons t-ball game and I notice a huge catalpa in the park.. Once the games over I tell my son were gonna go check this tree out.. As I walk up on this monster tree I see an old man with a bucket walking up to it also (I'm thinking oh yeah bingo found the perfect tree and it's on public property) we meet and all that look over the tree and BAM............nothing......... The old man proceeds to tell me how he's only got a handful of trees left that he can find the worms on and fr some reason he thinks there disapearing or try might be on some kind of rotational hatch kinda like cicadas.. Long story short thought I found the mother load....DUD