saw point

[BUFFS]

with all the blossom out together the garden looks great,but all the bugs are here too,i spent about 3 1/2 hours yesterday picking off saw fly grubs from my goosegogs,literally by the hundreds and put some on a tray for the birds and agood few into the old sunken bath(beside the veg patch,home of frogs and newts) and the newts loved them,i will have another go today to see if i can get the last of them,little b*****s..

[bearded bloke]

Sounds like you got the sawted

[FB.]

Sounds like you got the sawted

Saw that one coming.

[Two_Sheds]

I think I've managed to train the sparrows to eat the sawfly now: I get them really bad on the twisted willow next to the back door. I've been hanging bird feeders from it to attract the birds, and this year they seem to have cottoned onto the fact there're wrigglers in there too

[BUFFS]

i spent over 4 hours on three days and got hundreds more,but now down to finding the occasional one or two,with one bush defoliated,but the one 3ft away untouched by the munchers.......

[FB.]

one bush defoliated,but the one 3ft away untouched by the munchers.......

It seems quite common for certain varieties (whether gooseberry, strawberry, apple, pear, plum) to be much less affected than would be expected.
Sometimes I think it's down to natural resistance genes. Sometimes I think it's because the leaves or fruits are thicker/tougher/firmer or simply not as flavoursome to the pests. Sometimes it's due to a favourable spot or micro-climate for the plant (or a spot where the bugs are too cool/too hot/too exposed).

[FB.]

It seems quite common for certain varieties (whether gooseberry, strawberry, apple, pear, plum) to be much less affected than would be expected.
Sometimes I think it's down to natural resistance genes. Sometimes I think it's because the leaves or fruits are thicker/tougher/firmer or simply not as flavoursome to the pests. Sometimes it's due to a favourable spot or micro-climate for the plant (or a spot where the bugs are too cool/too hot/too exposed).

Taking that further - to my speciality which is apples, and my main pest on them which is woolly aphid.

The MM series of rootstocks and their parent "Northern Spy" are resistant to woolly aphid due to a woolly-aphid-killing chemical produced within the plant cells.

The apple varieties "Irish Peach", "Gascoyne's Scarlet", "Golden Delicious" and "Winter Majetin" are resistant to woolly aphid because of their unusual internal bark structure which acts like armour plate and damages the aphid feeding tube when it tries to insert its mouthparts.

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Or looking at a different apple pest: codling moth.

These seem attracted to early-ripening, red-skinned, thin-skinned, scented fruits of the Discovery/Scrumptious family. The maggot holes tend to be on the most coloured parts, which suggest that it is the red-pigment scent which draws the moths in to lay their eggs, like a pheromone which normally attracts male moths to the females.

For me, the green-skinned, tough-skinned, hard-fleshed, dual-purpose/cooker, late-ripening apples are rarely touched. How would you fancy biting into an apple which is hard and acid? Of course, it may not be hard and acid after a few months in storage; many late-keepers ripen after long storage.
The greener-coloured early apples are less affected than the Discovery-type earlies. The earlies which only colour-up in the few days before they drop off the tree, such as Beauty of Bath, Irish Peach and Laxton's Epicure also usually escape the worst of the attacks.

[cheops]

Two years ago my two gooseberry bushes were being demolished by sawfly caterpillars. I was picking them off but inevitably many were missed. At the same time my neighbour had a robin's nest in her lean-to. One day I saw a robin below one of the bushes and it was continually hoping into the air. Then I realised it was jumping up and grabbing the caterpillars. In a few days I had no more sawfly. And last year and so far this year I have had no further infestations which is quite remarkable. [Doesn't stop me checking every other day though]. I suppose the point I'm trying to make is if the local wildlife know they are there they will feed on them unmercifully. In my case has the robin family remembered each year since this source of food?? Perhaps when you remove by hand the caterpillars try putting some in a large tin lid beneath the bush and if you keep doing that eventually a robin or whatever will catch on there are more caterpillars to be had above. Maybe worth a try. Good luck.

[Two_Sheds]

has the robin family remembered each year since this source of food??

Yes, I think they do.

ShortTail, "my" female blackbird, hasn't been around since last summer. A couple of days ago she reappeared on my back lawn, begging for sultanas
Today she's brought her 3 fledglings with her

[FB.]

"my" female blackbird, hasn't been around since last summer. A couple of days ago she reappeared on my back lawn, begging for sultanas
Today she's brought her 3 fledglings with her

We have lots of blackbirds (and sparrows, finches etc) visit. Last week one of the blackbirds brought her fledglings with her. She clearly was unaware that my big old whitebeam tree is a favourite roosting spot for our local pair of sparrowhawks.

[BUFFS]

we have two wren nests in the garden but the jackdaws seem to be always there,so the small birds seem to be avoiding this area,usually they hoover all the bugs up but i suppose they are too busy guarding their nests from chickeating jackdaws,aerial vermin,there is now over 200 of them roosting in chimneys down the road and we have seen them attacking nests...