Major Sawfly larvae problem
CraighB
Posts: 758
hi guys,
I have a major sawfly larvae problem and I'm not too sure if everyone is experiencing the same thing? I really want to know how to control it.
Last year I had the same problem. I noticed curled leaves and leaves bending to one side. When I unrolled them there was the larvae and it tried to dive off but I kept squishing them. The problem is they are on nearly every plant in the garden and wrapped in multiple leaves and they are literally destroying them. Even the shasta daisies are just opening and all the flowers are deformed where they have eaten their way through.
The worst problem is on my salix tree. On every single branch at the ends where the new growth is, they have wrapped themselves in the leaves and just destroyed them and it would take forever to try and kill every single one. I have sprayed the tree as best I can but as they are tightly wrapped up I don't know if it will make a difference.
Is there anything I can do at all?
thanks 
Posts
Are you sure they are Sawfly? I thought Sawfly were specific to closely related plants. I have had Gooseberry sawfly attack my gooseberries and red currants, didn't touch the black currants. The behaviour of your pest is not at all like the way I have seen Sawfly operate. Gooseberry sawfly do not wrap themselves up in leaves, they simply devour the leaf very rapidly leaving a a few veins as do the sawfly species that attack raspberries and viburnums.
Well the thing is I tried to research the symptoms and some sites said it was sawfly and others said different so it's hard to tell. They are tiny little catapillars, greeny yellow colour and they wrap themselves in the leaves and when you open them there is furry white stuff in there. As soon as they have been found you can see them crawling really fast and they drop off the leaves To escape.
They even eat through the buds of the plant so they flowers all open deformed with all holes in them. They are on my astilbe, tall phlox, Lythrum, asters, Buddleja, salix, shasta daisy and many more so they really aren't fussy about the type of plant. And as I say I had the same problem last year too when the warmer weather comes.
CraighB: I've just come in from squishing lots of tiny caterpillars on my raspberries that were displaying behaviour similar to your drescription, curled over leaves, damaged growing tips and diving off to escape.
I've no idea what they are, I just keep squishing them.
Sounds like what I've got then Kitty. The more I squish the more there seems to be. I can't keep on top of them. And because they are wrapped up I don't think the bug spray is reaching them.
Just to add to this I'm having issues with chilli plants in my greenhouse with similar symptoms - curled upper, young leaves sort of stuck together, then lots of little holes on other leaves. Luckily there are only a few but they are a pain nonetheless.
Last edited: 07 July 2016 15:16:11
My critters aren't fussy what they munch on.
My chillies and peppers in the greenhouse along with raspberries, Brussels sprouts, stocks and asters in the garden have all suffered. So fruit/flowers and veg have all been targeted.
Here's a large one (3mm) on a Brussels leaf.
It's just below the largest hole, sorry about the photo quality.
yes those holes in the leaves look familiar and I can also see one of the little green critters on it too!
I have been reading up more on this and apparently nematodes can really help. So I'm going to try it and this also help with slugs and snails apparently so that's a bonus.
I really hope it works because I have also just found them on both my sedums too!
I had one on my sweetcorn a few weeks ago I was able to kill it and have had no problem since. I have had bad attack of sawfly on my redcurrant and gooseberry bushes which did a lot of damage in a short space of time. i did kill a lot by picking them off,I also used bug kill to try and eradicate the problem,the redcurrant's are ripening now. Regards Pete