"arien" wrote in message
. au...
We have this little catepillar type beast, which is stripping the leaves
and all that is left is like a skeleton of the leaf. This bug has nearly
killed two of our young gum trees, and is close to engulfing another
larger (still young) gum tree. The garden centre suggested we spray the
trees with carbaryl, but the little blighters don't seem to mind the
stuff at all. Does anyone know what this caterpillar thing is, and what
will kill it (before they kill the trees)?


--
Mel

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As someone else replied, I would guess it's Sawfly Larvae too, if the grubs
fit the description they gave.

We had them on many of the gums at work, mostly on the ones ranging from
about a metre, to 3m tall. We opted for knocking the grubs onto the ground
and squashing them, as it wasn't to viable to spray an insecticide into
trees up to 3m tall.
I would have thought Carbaryl would have killed them. Perhaps Rogor will.
But try squashing them first.

Good luck

--
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Mostly I leave things alone in the garden. The beetles attract the birds and
all that. But here (in Canberra) we've had two unacceptable gum munchers.

One is sawfly larvae (spitfires) which are obnoxious things that nothing
will eat. The other posters have described these.

But the one that really massacred our gums (Mannifera and Scoparia) were
Leaf Beetles (Order Coleoptera). The adults of these are light brown in
colour, hemispherical in shape, with big feet. The grubs are about 2 cm,
cream in colour, flecked with black, with black heads.

Both spitfires and leaf beetle grubs cluster during the day. The leaf
beetles strippped the tops bare on two of our gums. That's when I declared
war on them.

I recommend the hose and gumboot treatment on the group, or less ecological,
a pyrethrum insecticide with a jet spray. Soak the group with the jet. None
has survived this so far. The jet spray lets you hit the target only, up to
about 4 metres, and minimises civilian casualties.

Good luck.

"arien" wrote in message
. au...
We have this little catepillar type beast, which is stripping the leaves
and all that is left is like a skeleton of the leaf. This bug has nearly
killed two of our young gum trees, and is close to engulfing another
larger (still young) gum tree. The garden centre suggested we spray the
trees with carbaryl, but the little blighters don't seem to mind the
stuff at all. Does anyone know what this caterpillar thing is, and what
will kill it (before they kill the trees)?


--
Mel

Please post reply to newsgroup. Reply address isn't valid.

Many years ago, I managed to get rid of a pretty hefty sawfly larva
infestation from a Dwarf Sugar Gum (E. cladocalyx nana) with a systemic
insecticide called 'Metasystox'. I don't know whether it's still
available (or, indeed, whether it's regarded to be an ethical and
environmentally safe alternative), but you could ask at a nursery or
your local forestry office?

The Metasystox came as a tin of granules, which I sprinkled round the
base of the tree and watered in. The idea is that when the sawflies suck
it up from the plant's tissues, they succumb! It took about a week to
see the rotten little horrors plummetting to their demise ('SPLAT!!! -
Bwahahahahahahah!'), but it worked and the larvae have never bothered
the tree again. Which is good, because it's host to my collection of
orchids, a PeeWee's little mud-nest and zillions of birds that come to
visit the garden!

It has occurred to me that a systemic poison could indeed kill other
*good* sap-sucking creatures on a tree and perhaps even a bird which
might eat them. This is the part you'd really need to be clear about
before you decided to try it.

Speaking of birds' nests, I was helping my Mum by watering her
shade-house the other day when she grabhbed me as if she'd suddenly gone
mad and snatched away the hose! There, snugly hidden in the depths of a
large hanging Boston fern, was a Collared Turtledove sitting on two
eggs! I *know* I should've shushed it off and destroyed the nest... but
I couldn't! I tiptoed away and thought 'How lovely!'

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

I have the same problem. I am about to attack the problem with my three
regular caterpillar control methods:
1. Sprinkle the leaves with ordinary flour - it seems to kill most types of
caterpillar. If that doesn't work then:
2. Stir a tablespoon of molasses in a litre of water and spray the tree.
This works sometimes but washes off when it rains, which is not very often
these days. If that doesn't work then:
3. For a general bug spray, boil half a dozen rhubarb leaves in a couple of
litres of water for 15-20 mins, let cool and spray your tree - handle with
care as this is poisonous. Works short term for most bugs.
Good luck - I will let you know if this works for me.
Regards
Phil.
"arien" wrote in message
. au...
In article ,
lid says...
We have this little catepillar type beast, which is stripping the leaves
and all that is left is like a skeleton of the leaf. This bug has nearly
killed two of our young gum trees, and is close to engulfing another
larger (still young) gum tree. The garden centre suggested we spray the
trees with carbaryl, but the little blighters don't seem to mind the
stuff at all. Does anyone know what this caterpillar thing is, and what
will kill it (before they kill the trees)?




I think I've found what catepillar we have. This looks like it:

http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/p...ests/gum-leaf-
skeletoniser/response.htm

and detailed close up pics he

http://www.forestrytas.com.au/forest..._health_leafle
ts/insect_pests/pestsinfosheet4gumleafskeletoniser.pdf

Any advice on getting rid of it?

--
Mel

Please post reply to newsgroup. Reply address isn't valid.

In article ,
says...
arien wrote:
In article ,
lid says...

We have this little catepillar type beast, which is stripping the leaves
and all that is left is like a skeleton of the leaf. This bug has nearly
killed two of our young gum trees, and is close to engulfing another
larger (still young) gum tree. The garden centre suggested we spray the
trees with carbaryl, but the little blighters don't seem to mind the
stuff at all. Does anyone know what this caterpillar thing is, and what
will kill it (before they kill the trees)?





I think I've found what catepillar we have. This looks like it:

http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/p...ests/gum-leaf-
skeletoniser/response.htm

and detailed close up pics he

http://www.forestrytas.com.au/forest..._health_leafle
ts/insect_pests/pestsinfosheet4gumleafskeletoniser.pdf

Any advice on getting rid of it?


The links didn't work for me, but I have read that when spraying for
gumleaf skeletoniser you need to add some wetting agent to the spray to
get through the fine hairs on its body. So maybe that would help

Jane



Sorry, the links wrapped onto the second line, which means you will need
to cut and paste the whole url into your browser.

Thanks for the idea on the wetting agent.

--
Mel

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