Amy,
The sawflies use this posturing as a defense mechanism to protect
themselves from birds. If they all move at the same time and in the same
way they appear too large for birds to try to consume them. It's creepy,
but clever of them. I have noticed that my mughos have worms of varying
sizes as well. My greatest asset in protecting myself from defoliation
is the Listserve. As soon as someone posts a notice about them I start
checking my evergreens for them. That's how I found them as early as I
did this year. We are registering our property as a National Wildlife
Refuge, so we are pretty disinclined to use insecticides. I'm pretty
amazed at how much children enjoy observing them.
Good luck~Peggy Fairbourne
On Sun, 30 May 2004 19:23:10 -0700 (PDT) Amy Sitze <amysitze@yahoo.com>
writes:
> To go back to the question of European sawfly larvae
> that was discussed a few weeks back... I have a Mugo
> pine that's been heavily defoliated by this insect.
> (I'm kicking myself for not noticing it earlier...
> it's in a part of the yard I don't visit as much as
> the main area.)
>
> I handpicked and/or squished as many of them as I
> could today. Most were just over 1/2 inch long, but
> some were half that size. Do you think I have two
> generations on one plant, or do larvae of various
> sizes hatch together? From the fact sheet, it sounds
> like hand-picking and monitoring next spring are the
> most practical option for the larger ones, but is it
> still practical to treat the smaller ones? My goal is
> to get rid of as many of them as possible to reduce my
> chances of a similar problem next year. It sounds like
> defoliation two years in a row could put the plant in
> danger.
>
> Also, any ideas on how long it'll take the needles to
> grow back? The fact sheet made it clear that the plant
> probably won't die after one year, so I'm not worried
> about that... more wondering whether it'll look naked
> all summer.
>
> And this question is just out of curiosity: Why do
> they rear back their heads when they sense
> someone/something is approaching?
>
> Thanks!
> Amy in Hennepin County
>
>
>
>
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Peggy Fairbourne
(763) 475-3285
peggy.fairbourne@juno.com
