GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) -- Homeowners and farmers in northern South Carolina are complaining that caterpillars are chomping grass and other plants in lawns and fields.
The Greenville News reported Tuesday that the caterpillars began destroying lawns and knee-high hayfields in the Pelzer, Simpsonville and Easley areas in the spring.
Pelzer dairy farmer Tom Trantham Jr. says he lost 82 acres of pasture last month in little more than a day.
Cory Tanner with the Clemson University extension service says the caterpillars seem to prefer Bermuda and fescue lawns. He says people with pastures and those who operate golf courses and baseball fields need to be alert for an infestation.
Tanner says the wet spring followed by the dry summer may have attracted the pests.
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