Lifelong Charlotte resident Darrell Pickett knows how bad cankerworms can get.
But this year, Charlotte's notorious enemy has been slow to come out, something the city is starting to notice.
"No matter where you are, if you are on Monroe Road or wherever, they are everywhere,” Pickett said.
City entomologist Laurie Reid said the weather may be proving to be an ally. Last April, after the trees started to bloom, there was a big cold snap and temperatures plummeted to near freezing.
"The cankerworm counts that we've seen on the bands we have have definitely been less than last year and significantly more than the year before,” Reid said.
Not as many moths have come down to lay eggs for the next year.
Cankerworms thrive in the cold. That's when they like to climb. This has been the coldest March in four years.
“I don't know if it killed the caterpillars, or the leaves were killed, but because of that late frost, there was no food, so not as many caterpillars,” Reid said. “It’s a little tricky to predict what’s going to happen year to year."
So far, the cankerworms haven’t been a problem.
"This is the best year,” Pickett said. “I haven't seen none so far.”
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