To study the development of stem- and branch-damaging insects and their parasites under near natural conditions it is useful to confine the insects on their host for close observations. The ideal cage should totally confine or exclude insects, allow easy addition or removal of insects, and not damage the plant. During recent studies our requirements necessitated caging 50 trees, which ranged in height from 3 to 7 m. Large whole-tree cages are costly, difficult to construct, and difficult to access repeatedly to sample insects for developmental studies. A more practical method is to cage the branch, stem, or leader to confine the attacking insects, then collect emerging parasites and young eclosing adults.
