"Adrian Clark" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,

First post... glad to see there's a uk gardening NG! Hope you don't
mind
me piling in with a question.

I live in the S.London/Surrey suburbs, and noticed today that
something
has taken up residence in our mint. The tender leaves at the end of
each
shoot are all curled up and deformed. Closer inspection reveals that
they've been made into cocoons. Here's a photo...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianclark/24948449/

There's a few black specks visible on there, possibly eggs? I
managed to
find one of the cocoons with something inside it; a tiny green
caterpillar with black speckles. To give you some idea of size, this
is
on my little finger (and the photo would have been more in focus if
the
little bugger had kept still)...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianclark/24948369/

I've tried searching Google (and the archives for URG) for mint
pests,
but to no avail. As far as I can tell, the creatures are too long to
be
vine weevil larvae, as well as being the wrong colour. Any
suggestions
gratefully received...

Adrian, Hi.
This reminds me very much of the Nettle-tap moth caterpillar which
feeds on new nettle growth.
It is not the same but very similar - both the web cocoon, the
deformed growth tip and the shape and size of the caterpillar.
Try googling for something along the lines of 'mint moth' and see what
that brings up.
I've got an image of the Nettle-tap at
http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk/moths%20p4.html#nettle
for comparison.

--
ned

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk
last update 09.07.2005