[willowman]

Last year goosegog and blackcurrant bushes were devastated by caterpillars.
This year I thought I'd beat them to it, so ordered butterfly netting. delay from suppliers meant I put it over the bushes on Wed morning (April 22).
Went down today and several branches of the goosegog bush stripped of leaves.
The little blighters (not my actual words, of course).
Cut off as much of the damaged stalks as I could, and, sorry folks, but I zapped the rest with fruit bug killer.
How do they do it? I've been keeping a really close eye on the plants, forget to look for one day and, BINGO, gotcha.

[andreadon]

 
although, you want to get some chickens and feed the bugs to them.
they love it.

[DIGGER]

Are caterpillers around this time of the year  ??

[Eatyourgreens]

Hello Willowman.

No amount of netting will stop your problem.

The caterpillars are of the Sawfly and the eggs are layed at the roots of the fruit bush, and they crawl up the stem, start eating and grow so you see them when it's almost too late.

Spraying works (But not sure what to spray with this year as the rules have changed), if you do a search you will fin a thread I posted a few days ago called something like "Have I beaten the sawfly". It's about several pages back.


Bob

[Eatyourgreens]

Found it:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=35021.0



Bob

[paintedlady]

Did anyone watch the Victorian Farm?  The woman made a concoction with soapy water with elderberry leaves pounded in.  I have no idea if it works or how, but I thought I might give that a try on a "sacrificial" bush   

[Eatyourgreens]

Yes I saw that, trouble is my Gooseberry bushes are in a very sheltered part of the garden and in flower, my elder bush is exposed to strong winds and I doubt has a leaf on it yet 


Worth try though if I haven't beaten them yet.


Bob

[Janeymiddlewife]

looked at the thread linked above, slightly OT, but if malathion in the garden was banned can they still put it in head lice treatments? One of mine has been itching, but if this stuff is bad, not sure I want to plaster it all over his head (mods feel free to move to chat)

[DIGGER]

Did anyone watch the Victorian Farm?  The woman made a concoction with soapy water with elderberry leaves pounded in.  I have no idea if it works or how, but I thought I might give that a try on a "sacrificial" bush   

Used liquid soap mixed with water and sprayed on last year it worked, must have got the idea from here.

[Robin Redbreast]

looked at the thread linked above, slightly OT, but if malathion in the garden was banned can they still put it in head lice treatments? One of mine has been itching, but if this stuff is bad, not sure I want to plaster it all over his head (mods feel free to move to chat)

hello malathion is an mild insecticide that has no real effect to humans it can be mixed with deisel to create a fog to get rid of mosquitos, but to answer your question i wouldnt worry it is well diluted and pretty much harmless! on saying that its also pretty harmless to the little * and their eggs that lay on us human beans! i am a hairdresser by trade and the best treatments for nits as far as i am concerned are the ones that use tea tree oil and malathion together they will do best. then regular checks on the whole family to prevent further outbreaks.

pediculosis capitas is the latin name for these little critters ad they can llive in bedding and carpets for a week or so after treatment, wash all bedding, clean all brushes used by the infected and hoover up well! that should clear the whole house then try and find out where the source is and pass on what you know, so we can eradicate these little sh=-89es from our lives as much as poss hope this helps!!!!!!