I have 7 cedar type shrubs in front of our house and two of them were loaded with these. I thought they were 'cones' but are actually cocoons with a blackish worm inside each one. It looked like the shrubs were dying but actually the foliage was being stripped by these critters. It appears that they somehow attach some of the foliage to the outside of their cocoon to make them look like a cedar cone.
I hand-picked about a hundred per tree and destroyed them, hope this solves the problem..??
Bagworms.
Sorry..don't know anything about that but that has definately got to be one of the grossest things I have ever seen. I hope that picking them off helps. I think I would put them in a bucket of turpentine or something too. Wonder how they multiply? Your problem may not be over.
How nasty and ugly are these! Yeccchhh!! Here's a website which will give you a lot of info for your area:
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/trees/ef440.htm
Thanks everyone! That's what they are! Great website pekasky, exactly describes these critters and preventative measures.
