Yup, that's them. Really nasty. I have a real infestation of them. I wonder if I could feed em to my lizard :~)
I'll keep at them. Thanks.
Joy

Yup, that's them. Really nasty. I have a real infestation of them. I wonder if I could feed em to my lizard :~)
I'll keep at them. Thanks.
Joy

Yup, that's them. Really nasty. I have a real infestation of them. I wonder if I could feed em to my lizard :~)
I'll keep at them. Thanks.
Joy

I think you may have a rose sawfly. The University of Minnesota has a good fact sheet (with pics) of leaf eaters/defoliators. I use Safer brand products and use End All because it kills all stages of the insects, egg to adult. Marg

I have rose sawfly caterpillars for the first time as well, and found out too late for my dahlias, poor things. For me, Safers rose and flower spray is ineffective but Neem oil seems to work quite well.

where would you get Neem oil? They are eating my rose leaves constantly? Rona/Home Depot?

Yes my roses are chomped!! I use Safers products too. I picked up the End All recommended above and so far so good! I wanted to mention that at the Loblaws/Fortinos garden centres, the Safers products were buy 1 get 1 free. As for Neem oil, I don't know where you're located but I have seen it at a couple of nurseries and I believe it's in the Richters catalogue, but the bottles I've seen are really small.

I hate those things! I remember the first time I found them on my violets - I thought they must be young Fritillary caterpillars, since they lay their eggs on violets. I carefully picked them off and put them in my box I use for caterpillars I want to keep - I fed them fresh violet leaves and looked after them so very carefully... When I realized what they were I thought I would die laughing!! I couldn't believe I had been so dumb :-)

A little Neem oil goes a long way - you usually mix it at a rate of a tablespoon (or so) to 4 litres of water. I have never seen it at Home Depot or Canadian Tire, but if yours is a good one they may carry it. I find it locally at actual nurseries. I think Vesey's might have started carrying it too, but I'm not sure about that. Richter's definitely does.

I don't get too many of them so I just handpick them, and even then I rarely bother to do that - most of them are carried off by wasps.

Have you seen them on your morning glories and sweet potatoes? There's another possibility for what's munching them - golden tortoise beetles. They and their larvae munch plants in the Ipomoea family.

BP

I'm finally winning the war, I think. I did lose all my violas, and labrador violet, but the roses are bouncing back! I hand picked them off the plants first thing in the morning and late in the evening.
I now know why I have had so very many wasps this year.
I have read that certain sawfly will have a second flush of larvae in a year. I will be watching very closely this time.

I've had problems with them in the past - this year is not so bad, for some reason. I've had excellent results spraying them with a regular dishsoap and water mixture - it kills them right away. I don't use chemical pesticides, and I'm really happy with the soap and water. It also kills earwigs.