On 29/03/20 14:04, David wrote:
A couple of patio roses have over wintered and the leaves have mainly been
munched.

There are green caterpillar-like things sheltered by leaves folded over or
held two together by some kind of web.

On line search suggests that sawfly specific to roses aren't quite like
this and also don't get going until April/May.

I do get similar on other plants such as olive trees and bay trees.
The common feature seems to be building a leaf shelter with a fine silk
web.

Any suggestions?

Picking them off by hand at the moment.

Lots of different sawfly/tortrix around. They seem quite undemanding in
their tastes. There is very little you can do other than what you are
doing. Effective systemic insecticides can be counted on the fingers of
Captain Hook's hand, and contact insecticides don't make contact.

However, I have found that after the initial attack, which can be quite
disfiguring (and worse if the flower buds are lost), they seem to
disappear and the plant grows normally. It even helps a bit in saving
you the bother of pinching out - the sawfly effectively do it for you!

--

Jeff