Gooseberries shredded by caterpillars – will they recover?

These are more likely to be gooseberry sawfly larvae than caterpillars and although the plants will be weakened they usually recover. The sawfly may well return. Three species of sawfly can be involved of which two have more than one generation per summer.

Watch your plants carefully until autumn, bearing in mind that these cunning creatures start feeding deep in the bush where they are hard to spot, then once they are getting larger, can strip the plants in a few days.

If seen, wash them off with a jet of water from the hose or sprayer or pick them off by hand. Natural enemies will polish off many sawfly so where possible plant wild flowers near your soft fruit plantation to provide food and shelter for predatory and parasitic wasps and beetles.

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