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what is it
w.jones15
Posts: 2
hi , i have a beautiful tree in my front garden and have found holes in the leaves taking the top layer of the leaf , there are abundance of berrys so cant spray the tree as the birds take the berries , but i have found little slug like worms with fat heads and a tail on the tree , they are black in colour and look very much like leeches . any help would be great as the tree doesnt lose its leaves and looks as if it going to die . thanks
0
Posts
A photo would be helpful. ?
That requires a picture, I think
H-C
Could be pear and cherry slug
pear and cherry slug worm I meant??.
slug worms probably, there are quite a few species, I had Cherry Slug Worm, Caliroa cerasi, never seen any of the others.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Hello,
Yes, these definitely sound like the larvae of the Pear and Cherry Slugworm Sawfly.
They eat the foliage of pears, cherries, plums, hawthorn, rowan, Cotoneaster and Chaenomeles.
The larvae are black, slimy, slug-like creatures, about 1 cm long - sort of club-shaped with an enlarged head.
They feed by grazing away the upper leaf tissues - the remaining areas of damaged tissue dies and turns brown.
There are usually 2 or 3 generations of them in a year, between June and October.
The second generation that occurs in July - August is normally the most damaging.
When fully fed, they go into the soil to pupate and emerge as adult sawflies.
Larvae that occur late in the year will overwinter in cocoons in the soil, before pupating in April or May of the following year.
Heavy infestations may spoil the appearance of trees, but rarely affect the general health and productivity of the plant.
Control is difficult with large trees, as hand-picking the larvae from June onwards is the only effective non-chemical control.
Contact insecticides, such as pyrethrum, may be used. A single application is usually enough to have an effect, especially if it is given when the larvae are quite young and at their most susceptible.
Of course, flowering trees may not be treated, due to the risk to pollinating insects and in reality, it's difficult to spray a whole tree and eradicate all the pests!
So, my best advice would be to tolerate them and hope that your tree is not infested as badly in subsequent seasons.
I hope this helps.
pbff
thank you for your help , at least now i know what they are. and i will continue to hand pick them off, cant understand why they have attacked my tree when my neighbour has the same tree thats unaffected and they dont spray either , thanks again