The Daily DuBrule
Today I spotted the first pine sawfly larvae on the candles of my mugho pines. These are truly disgusting creatures. First of all, when you get near them, they rise up like Medusa and wiggle around. Their black tips look to me like one big eyeball but I am sure that's not what it is. I have been scouting for them for days, actually weeks as nothing is arriving at its normal time this year because of the wacky weather.
Why are they such BAD bugs? In a few days, if left alone, they will eat away at the candles of your mugho pines. The candles are the pointy things at the tips of every branch. Every candle contains the new growth for the entire growing season. Lose the candle, lose a year's growth.
A simple spray of neem will kill them. You may want to check back in a few days to see if you missed any. Sometimes a second batch hatches later in the season. But TODAY, NOW, go outside and deal with this problem if you have mugho pines. Timing is everything on this one.
OMG, how serendipitous! I was just thinking today when you were going to send word out through your network telling us to check our mugo pines. No kidding! All candles looked good today but one on one mini mugho. I'll have to check it more closely tomorrow.
ReplyDelete