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  • Vapourer Moth Infestation

    I seem to have a huge number of vapourer moth larvae this year. They started out on the pear and apple trees, then spread to the strawberries, some of which they have now almost completely defoliated. Now they are eating the blueberry leaves too. Anyone else got these? - the caterpillars are quite distinctive:

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    I picked these off a couple of strawberry plants in less than a minute.
    A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

  • #2
    Wow, never seen those before, just been picking over the last of my strawbs and didn't find any.

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    • #3
      My fruit seems to be a magnet for larvae of all sorts this year:

      Strawberries - Vapourer moth, tortrix moth, some sort of fruit fly (I think) with small pink larvae that live at the stalk end (+slugs)
      Rasperries - raspberry beetle, tortrix moth, fruit fly
      Framberries - tortrix moth, fruit fly (but noticeably not vapourer moth)
      Blueberries - Tortrix moth, vapourer moth
      Gooseberries - gooseberry sawfly, tortrix moth
      Apples - codling moth, tortrix moth, vapourer moth
      Pear - vapourer moth
      Cherry - tortrix moth (and lots of black aphids)
      Chilean guava - tortrix moth

      Blackcurrants and white currants (so far) don't seem affected.


      A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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      • #4
        You are having a fair bit of bad luck with pests this year, so far I seem to be bug free(crossing fingers).

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        • #5
          Some years are better than others. The tortrix moth arrived about 3 years ago and eats EVERYTHING.
          Last edited by Penellype; 03-08-2020, 12:34 PM.
          A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Penellype View Post
            The tortrix moth arrived about 3 years ago and eats EVERYTHING.
            So that's the little sod that's been attacking my plants.

            Not fussy, are they? I don't think there's many things I haven't found it on.
            Last edited by mrbadexample; 03-08-2020, 10:20 PM.
            Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
            By singing-'Oh how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
            While better men than we go out and start their working lives
            At grubbing weeds from gravel paths with broken dinner-knives. ~ Rudyard Kipling

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            • #7
              Originally posted by mrbadexample View Post

              So that's the little sod that's been attacking my plants.

              Not fussy, are they? I don't think there's many thing I haven't found it on.
              I haven't found it in the lawn. That is about the only place, but I haven't really been looking!
              A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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              • #8
                I’ve never seen those before...and had to goooogle the moth.
                Pretty looking thing

                https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/vapourer
                "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

                Location....Normandy France

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Nicos View Post
                  I’ve never seen those before...and had to goooogle the moth.
                  Pretty looking thing

                  https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/vapourer
                  Yes, when I found them on the pear tree I made the mistake of leaving them alone as they weren't doing much damage and they are interesting caterpillars. I now wish I'd been a bit quicker off the mark!

                  The moths are interesting too - only the males have wings. Quite how they managed to get into the garden in the first place is therefore something of a mystery.
                  Last edited by Penellype; 04-08-2020, 07:16 AM.
                  A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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                  • #10
                    Have you collected dead leaves from elsewhere for composting? ( just a thought!)
                    "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

                    Location....Normandy France

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                    • #11
                      I've got a few on the raspberries. Apparently when tiny the caterpillars can be blown on the wind.
                      Location - Leicestershire - Chisit-land
                      Endless wonder.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Nicos View Post
                        Have you collected dead leaves from elsewhere for composting? ( just a thought!)
                        No, I don't normally bring in anything except new compost and occasionally horse muck (latest 2 years ago) as I have plenty of compost and little storage space at home. I haven't bought many new plants this year either (just cauliflower seedlings and bedding plants from the garden centre, indoors) and I have a "one way" system for plants: house > garden, house or garden > my friend's, house or garden > allotment. Never the other way round.
                        Last edited by Penellype; 05-08-2020, 05:51 AM.
                        A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by mothhawk View Post
                          I've got a few on the raspberries. Apparently when tiny the caterpillars can be blown on the wind.
                          This seems the most likely explanation.
                          A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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                          • #14
                            I've never seen it before. They look really disgusting, don't like insects at all. Really sorry about your harvest, they've damaged so much. I am sure your berries were great and there is no your mistake. Next year look carefully and take the first ones off as soon as you notice them. All insects damage garden, even they don't eat berries, they can attract others and that's a problem.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Penellype View Post

                              Yes, when I found them on the pear tree I made the mistake of leaving them alone as they weren't doing much damage and they are interesting caterpillars. I now wish I'd been a bit quicker off the mark!
                              AAARGH! I did exactly the same last year and for the same reason. I've seen quite a few of the moths this year. I'm not growing anything except weeds at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see how many caterpillars I spot next year. Never seen a tortrix... Yet.

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