A gathering place for vegetable gardeners & allotmenteers

Hawthorn Bugs

I have just posted a pic on my page. Would be really grateful if anyone would have a look and see what they think they are. Yukky yellow brown caterpillars that seem to be making a web over some branches and killing them. I have an instinct to get rid asap, but need to know if it's some rare moth lave or something. My tree is a baby, only been in 3 years and only 6 feet tall, planted in memory of my Dad.

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nasty tree bugs 003.JPG, 2.5 MB

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Permalink Reply by Jane on August 5, 2009 at 6:21pm: Someone on the BBC just told me they are webber moths and that i should prune out the affected branches. They don't eat that much and the leaves grow back when they hatch, but apparently infestations can then get bigger as the next generation of moths lays more eggs. Sigh, hate having to kill things, but don't want to lose my little tree - if it was bigger it might cope!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jane on August 6, 2009 at 3:15pm: Thanks so much Jackie. I've never seen anything like this before, though I knew there were some moths that covered hedges and shrubs in webs' like this. I cut off the branches there were on and put them into the council green bin - not sure that was the right thing or not. Hope the tree survives, it's had a bit of a battering - some of it's leaves are brown and curled; it's had aphids and now these. That's the thing with planting native species i guess - lots of things like to eat them! Jane; ▶ Reply to This