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Caterpillar concerns...
Csbartlett84
Posts: 61
Hi can anyone help identify this group of caterpillars please. Is it something I need to worry about?
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
0
Posts
.. info and advice here https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=698
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I've just posted this info. about sawfly on a gooseberry thread .... must be that time of year
Try using a spray of diluted neem oil .... it is totally organic and is derived by pressing the seed kernels of the neem tree.
I use it for lily beetles and sawfly on gooseberries / solomons seal and aruncus. Also use it if the aphids get too bad on the roses.
See this link for further info.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
and this one for how to make it.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-insect-spray.html
I use it as soon as growth starts in April and I drench the foliage. Any spare solution goes onto the soil below as the earthworms are supposed to love it. I repeat spray every few weeks.
Neem is best used preventatively .... but will work on pests that have already arrived. It does not hurt beneficial insects. Only chewing and sucking insects are affected. The main reason is that insects need to ingest the neem oil to be affected, and beneficial insects don't eat your plants. However, you can still kill beneficial insects if you smother them with neem oil, so I tend to spray late evening to be safe.
It does stink a bit ... but is easy to mix up and apply.
I got mine off ebay .... wasn't expensive for a big bottle which will last ages. At room temperature it is solid, but goes liquid again within a couple of hours in the airing cupboard.
Worth a try.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime