I have 2 Buddliea bushes which have always been fine but this year most of the leaves have been shredded and only the veins on the leaves remain, I'm not sure what if anything to spray on them or whether to cut them right back any ideas would helpful.

On 31/07/2010 11:23, Irene Collier wrote:
I have 2 Buddliea bushes which have always been fine but this year most
of the leaves have been shredded and only the veins on the leaves
remain, I'm not sure what if anything to spray on them or whether to cut
them right back any ideas would helpful.




Sounds like some kind of sawfly, but I don't know of one specific to
Buddleia. It may already have moved on but if you're worried, try a
systemic insecticide. This will kill sap suckers and leaf eaters, but
not harm bees or hoverflies. You take the chance of course that it may
harm caterpillars of desireable moths/butterflies, but both moths and
butterflies are generally attracted to Buddleia for nectar, not a leafy
lunch.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

I'd have thought that, if only the leaf veins remain,, there wasn't a lot of point in doing anything this year!