I may take this approach on one of the larger trees that's being defoliated. Since some of the caterpillars are going to be around for a few more weeks, I want to prevent the second set of replacement leaves from also being totally eaten when they come out...as that would be a huge stress on that tree.
If I put a sticky band on the tree, does it matter what time of day I put it on? I'd hate to trap the caterpillars up in the tree, and make it even worse...I'd rather they get stuck near the ground. If they tend to crawl down at the end of the day, wouldn't that be the best time to put the band up?