[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[rimcountryexplorer at att.net]

Bonnie T.
85207
rimcountryexplorer at att.net

I have several Mountain Laurel trees in my yard, all approximately 8 years old.  One in particular has been infested repeatedly with "tent worms" despite doing all I can to destroy the tents and then thoroughly spraying the tree/worms with Thuricide and most recently Malathion. I have to do this at least once a month or the worm infestation gets so bad the see pods and the leaves are dripping. The worms are now spreading to the other Mountain Laurel trees in my yard.  The trees are growing larger and it is very difficult to take the pressure sprayer up on the ladder to spray the entire trees, only to find the worms back in a couple weeks. Recently a gardener at Harper Nursery suggested I add oil based Saf-T-Cide to the spray with hopes of preventing the eggs from hatching, but this has not worked either.  I prefer not to cut the trees down, but it is difficult to have  to spray them every few weeks, only for the worms to return.  Any assistance you can provide for this situation would be greatly appreciated.