A couple of days ago I had to clear a load of caterpillars off the lemon
geraniums which have over-wintered under the car port.

Today I found the two lemon trees bound to each other leaf to leaf where
the leaves overlapped.

Again, little green caterpillars which use sticky webs to pull two bits of
a leaf or two leaves together.

At least - I think they were caterpillars.

Googling has turned up sawfly larvae which look much the same but have
more legs.

Need to go and look for some that I missed on first pass.

Cheers

Dave R

On 2014-02-23 15:01:56 +0000, David.WE.Roberts said:

A couple of days ago I had to clear a load of caterpillars off the lemon
geraniums which have over-wintered under the car port.

Today I found the two lemon trees bound to each other leaf to leaf where
the leaves overlapped.

Again, little green caterpillars which use sticky webs to pull two bits of
a leaf or two leaves together.

At least - I think they were caterpillars.

Googling has turned up sawfly larvae which look much the same but have
more legs.

Need to go and look for some that I missed on first pass.

Cheers

Dave R

Last year was great for butterflies, so I suppose one follows t'other!
Those little green jobs are a total pain & do a lot of damage!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On 23/02/2014 15:01, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A couple of days ago I had to clear a load of caterpillars off the lemon
geraniums which have over-wintered under the car port.

Today I found the two lemon trees bound to each other leaf to leaf where
the leaves overlapped.

Again, little green caterpillars which use sticky webs to pull two bits of
a leaf or two leaves together.

At least - I think they were caterpillars.

Googling has turned up sawfly larvae which look much the same but have
more legs.

Need to go and look for some that I missed on first pass.

Cheers

Dave R





Not sure about your geranium caterpillar. I believe more than one type
of caterpillar can be a problem, so you need to spot it and identify it.

Tortrix moth is probably the cause of your lemon tree leaves being
webbed together. Simply unpeel the web layer, find the caterpillar and
squish it.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

"Spider" wrote in message ...

Not sure about your geranium caterpillar. I believe more than one type of
caterpillar can be a problem, so you need to spot it and identify it.

Tortrix moth is probably the cause of your lemon tree leaves being webbed
together. Simply unpeel the web layer, find the caterpillar and squish it.
--
Spider.


Certainly looking like it - bugs bunny on the lawn this morning and biiig
wasp in flight
in the greenhouse yesterday (:-) All God's ceatures - no need to squish -
please (:-(

Pete

On 23/02/2014 16:12, Peter & Jeanne wrote:


"Spider" wrote in message ...

Not sure about your geranium caterpillar. I believe more than one
type of caterpillar can be a problem, so you need to spot it and
identify it.

Tortrix moth is probably the cause of your lemon tree leaves being
webbed together. Simply unpeel the web layer, find the caterpillar
and squish it.



Sorry! No squishing. Offer it to the birds instead.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

"Spider" wrote
Peter & Jeanne wrote:


"Spider" wrote in message ...

Not sure about your geranium caterpillar. I believe more than one
type of caterpillar can be a problem, so you need to spot it and
identify it.

Tortrix moth is probably the cause of your lemon tree leaves being
webbed together. Simply unpeel the web layer, find the caterpillar
and squish it.



Sorry! No squishing. Offer it to the birds instead.



I always tap them on the head with my size 11s and will continue to do so,
trouble is getting them all as they do so much damage to the citrus trees.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 23/02/2014 17:26, Bob Hobden wrote:
"Spider" wrote
Peter & Jeanne wrote:


"Spider" wrote in message ...

Not sure about your geranium caterpillar. I believe more than one
type of caterpillar can be a problem, so you need to spot it and
identify it.

Tortrix moth is probably the cause of your lemon tree leaves being
webbed together. Simply unpeel the web layer, find the caterpillar
and squish it.



Sorry! No squishing. Offer it to the birds instead.



I always tap them on the head with my size 11s and will continue to do
so, trouble is getting them all as they do so much damage to the citrus
trees.



I squish Red Lily Beetles and Vine Weevils, but softer-bodied creatures
I put out for the birds. I get lots of sawfly caterpillars on my
Soloman's Seal (Polygonatum), so the birds get a feast then.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

I have a pine sawfly. I'm going to take the easier option and get rid of the pine.

On 23/02/2014 15:01, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
A couple of days ago I had to clear a load of caterpillars off the lemon
geraniums which have over-wintered under the car port.

Today I found the two lemon trees bound to each other leaf to leaf where
the leaves overlapped.

Again, little green caterpillars which use sticky webs to pull two bits of
a leaf or two leaves together.

At least - I think they were caterpillars.

Googling has turned up sawfly larvae which look much the same but have
more legs.


I had a lot of those on the lemon I brought into the house over winter.
Took over a month before there were no more to deal with. For such
tiny creatures, they don't half eat a lot of lemon leaf. Poor chap
looks more like a swiss cheese plant.

The ones put in the greenhouse don't seem to have suffered to the same
extent.

--
regards
andy