The City of Humboldt is experiencing an outbreak of tent caterpillars.

They say crews are working to spray infected trees on their property and they urge residents to call their Leisure Services Department at 682.2597 to report any infected trees.

However, what if one or more of your own trees are being taken over by the wiggly pests?

"The advantage we have right now is that they are clumping together so they are easy to control," says Misty Gardens owner and Horticulturist Paul Kneeshaw. "As they get older and bigger and eat more they are going to spread out, they are much harder to control because they aren't all together."

Kneeshaw says if you don't deal with them they will strip a tree bare.

He explains how to rid yourself of the small worm-like creatures.

"You can spray them with any number of insecticides and because they are all together you don't have to do a lot of searching. You have to search for the clumps of them but once you find them you can kill a lot of tent caterpillars at one time."

The City also stated they have started their annual mosquito control program around standing water and parks. They encourage homeowners to be vigilant with not having standing water on their property and any they do have such as rain barrels be covered.