The rose leaf rolling sawfly injects a chemical into young rose leaves to cause them to curl protectively around her eggs. Within a week the eggs hatch into green caterpillars that start to eat their home. In mid-summer, leaving behind skeletonised foliage, they crawl down into the soil to overwinter.

Ad

Symptoms

Young rose leaves nearest the bud curl up overnight; after a week, small green caterpillars hatch and start to strip the leaves.

Find it on

roses

Ad

Organic

When small numbers of leaves are affected, remove and destroy the tubular foliage. With large numbers of leaves, they are best left or the rose will suffer. In winter, carefully fork over the soil around the base of the rose to expose the larvae to hungry birds, but don't damage the roots.

Ad
Ad
Ad