Vapourer Moth Infestation

[Penellype]

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:



I picked these off a couple of strawberry plants in less than a minute.

[burnie]

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

[Penellype]

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.

[burnie]

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

[Penellype]

Some years are better than others. The tortrix moth arrived about 3 years ago and eats EVERYTHING.

[mrbadexample]

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.

[Penellype]

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!

[Nicos]

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

https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/vapourer

[Penellype]

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.

[Nicos]

Have you collected dead leaves from elsewhere for composting? ( just a thought!)

[mothhawk]

I've got a few on the raspberries. Apparently when tiny the caterpillars can be blown on the wind.

[Penellype]

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.

[Penellype]

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.

[BeatriceCallan]

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.

[Snoop Puss]

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.