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Erysimum leaves

turmericturmeric Posts: 830
in Problem solving

Hello all, I took cuttings from my Erysimum recently and they were doing really well until something got to the leaves : 

image

I did find two tiny tiny green caterpillars but the leaves look see through as if a leaf miner has been at them.  Any ideas anyone, I don't want to throw the cuttings away.  Many thanks.

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    As long as you have removed all of the caterpillars they will be fine.  The damaged leaves will be shed as the cuttings start to grow more strongly.  They probably need potting on into individual pots now.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830

    Thanks Bob, but do you think it was the caterpillars?  I've never seen damage like this from a caterpiller.  It's all over the shrub in the border too and with the caterpillars at about 1-2mm it's impossible to find them on the larger plant.  I just wondered if it was a problem that Erysimum suffer from regularly as it looks awful.

  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,905

    Erysimums can suffer from a disease called Bacterial Leaf Blight. Whether this is what yours is suffering from I don't know but you may be able to look it up.

    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830

    Thanks Ladybird4, I just googled it but that's more of a blackness or yellowness (like potato blight).  I have skeleton leaves.  I think I've found it though: Rose Slug Sawfly.  I think I found the little green caterpillars of the sawfly.  I hadn't realised that caterpillars can skeletonize (such a word?) a leaf, but they can.  The cuttings were in my conservatory with my gooseberry (which also had sawfly, which I picked off but I naively thought they would only want to be on the gooseberry, they must have travelled).

  • ecokidecokid Posts: 138

    I have the same problem on two of mine as you. I found the flowers and buds riddled with tiny green caterpillars - having researched a bit, I think they might be from the angleshade moth. I dont use pesticides, so im removing them when I see them. It's also not limited to my erysimum as i've found them on my raspberries and mint as well. 

    Last edited: 04 July 2016 21:12:12

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