BENTONVILLE (KFSM) -- Web worms have been wrapping trees in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley in webs all summer, but according to local experts they aren't harming them.
"I believe that this is probably the heaviest year that we've had in terms of our infestation level in a long time," Benton County Extension Agent Neal Mays said.
But Mays said homeowners don't have to worry about the worms killing their trees, all the worms eat are the leaves.
"These worms do not kill otherwise healthy timber in most cases," he said.
However, Mays said fruit trees may not be so lucky.
"They do eat fruit," he said. "On those trees a spray is probably advisable because the more the tree is defoliated, the less sugar is moving in and that will affect fruit quality to some extent."
Another exception are young or weak trees that could be susceptible to disease.