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I wonder whether anyone has any thoughts. My healthy gooseberry bush was full of gooseberries until...this week I noticed something was eating away at the leaves. So I put down some slug pellets, thinking my garden friends had made their annual return. A couple of days later the pellets hadn't been touched, yet half of the leaves had gone. On careful inspection of the bush, I noticed each leaf was riddled with about five or six caterpillars. As it stands today, the bush is empty of leaves, the fruit is still there, and the caterpillars are moving on. Has anyone any thoughts, advice on what to do next A with the bush and B with the caterpillars should they migrate to another plant in the garden.
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Don't know whay kind of caterpillers you have. Every year about this time we seem to get invaded by saw flies which leave the polygonatums covered in gray caterpillers.
If we leave them or miss them they absolutely skeletalise the plants.:mad We usually have to cut them down and burn them. Shame as they are so lovely. Thinking about getting rid if them unless we can find a solution. And they are so expensive in garden centres. I think your gooseberry bush will be ok and will just regrow. As for the caterpillers you might just have to hunt them down and destroy them 
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. -
I've had little green caterpillars on my gooseberries, they're the exact colour of the leaves and quite difficult to spot. I think I've got rid of my using the organic method. Pull them off and stamp on them. It did take agood few hunts to get them all.Comment
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Thanks for your advice. The caterpillars were very small green ones. I think I might go and inspect other plants to see they haven't migrated to another spot in my garden.Comment
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Get them off, pick them off by hand, they will just eat all the leaves and you will lose the crop. Sawfly lay their larvae on gooseberry bushes and this sounds like them.Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb talesComment
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The more caterpillers that survive will mean even more next year!
"Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple
Location....Normandy FranceComment
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I've picked the last few caterpillars off, but a lot seem to be on the floor. Should I use something to kill them? My father-in-law said there is some kind of spray you can get for these things. To be honest I'd rather remain as organic as possible, so I'm reluctant to go buying this spray.Comment
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Gooseberry sawfly will decimate the plant in a week or so and you need to do something with those on the ground as the eggs are laid at the base of the bush and you will continue to have this annual problem. I threw my bushes out two years ago - got fed up of nurturing them only for them to become sawfly central.
Do not concern yourself with other plants in your garden - at least as far as Gooseberry sawfly are concerned -sawfly are plant specific.Rat
British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God
http://scotsburngarden.blogspot.com/
http://davethegardener.blogspot.com/Comment
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I understand that there are up to 3 hatches of larvae each year too, so you need to keep 2 steps ahead of them!!"Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple
Location....Normandy FranceComment
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Fran, I think the organic method (apart from squashing any you find!) might be squirting with Derris dust to kill them. I have had problems with gooseberry sawfly larvae in the past & although they strip the leaves the bush does recover & the fruit are O.K. they just get so annoying!
P.S. Just noticed you can get Bio Liquid Derris now to spray with instead of the powder, Derris is used by lots of 'organic ' gardeners.
PPS. Rat says gooseberry sawfly only attack gooseberries but they also ate my redcurrant, I saw it with my own eyes & Doctor Hessayon's 'Garden Troubles Expert' book says they attack gooseberries & currants.Last edited by SueA; 16-05-2006, 03:52 PM.Into every life a little rain must fall.Comment
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When I had a gooseberry bush, and it showed signs of gooseberry sawfly, I would chuck some bird feed (ie peanuts, sunflower hearts, etc) under the bush, and the problem would be very quickly sorted. At this time of year when adult birds have chicks to feed, the sawfly grubs are a natural source of food. You can't get much more organic than that!
valmargComment
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Hi Valmarg! Welcome to the grapevine. That is an excellent tip - thanks
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