Pest Profile

The garden webworm, a common webworm, is slender and green with three dark spots arranged in a triangle on the sides of each body segment. Each spot supports at least one hair. Larvae skeletonize the foliage in the protected, webbed area. If disturbed, larvae move backward rapidly. Peak damage occurs July through August with multiple generations possible. The edges of some soybean fields in northeast Kansas became infested during 2001 with high numbers of webworms moving out of harvested alfalfa fields.