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How To Deal With Sawfly (Nematus ribesii)


Sawfly
Known as Gooseberry Sawfly, these caterpillars affect gooseberries, and all the currant plants. The sawfly caterpillars are light brown-green with black spots. They devour the leaves of the bushes with astonishing speed - in bad cases they can strip a plant of all its foliage in less than a week.

 


 

The sawfly eggs are often laid in the middle of the bush and this is where the first signs of damage are noticed. 

How to Treat Sawfly
The key to treating this pest is ACT QUICKLY! Wait a few days and it's tooo late! If you are really kind to the environment, pick the caterpillars off by hand and do this at least daily. Anything which encourages birds to the affected area will also help - robins especially love sawfly.

Being realistic though, the best method is to spray with an insecticide immediately the disease is noticed. 

 

 

 

 

 

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