Question
I have two catawba worm trees, each about 15' tall and about 8 years old. When I was a kid, we always fished with these worms, however, I have not seen a single worm on these trees. They bloom and get bean pods, but no worms. One year, I actually put worms on one of the trees, thinking I could start the cycle. What can I do?
Thanking you in advance, Bill

Answer
Your best bet for starting the worms is to harvest eggs from a tree that is already established and attach them to your own tree. The caterpillars emerge in the spring, so you'll want to attach them in February or March. You could try bery ypoung caterpillars and maybe they will become adults and lay eggs. The eggs are the best.  This is what the catalpa worm evolves into, so obviously it would lay the eggs to start more!

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.

Translucent, milky-white, green, or yellowish eggs are oval, being about .5 mm in diameter. Eggs are deposited in masses of 100-1000 eggs on the undersurface of leaves, while smaller masses are deposited onto branches on the Catalpa tree. Eggs incubate and hatch five to seven days after oviposition.