Just had a recent run in with some Spitfire Sawfly, thought I'd share my pics for anyone else that may not know what they're dealing with. I have a lot of memories of these things growing up, but my first time dealing with them as a pest
These little buggers hunt in packs, so if they get hold of one of your bonsai... then chances are they won't leave much left over. I had them attack two of my tree's, one is on its way out and the other is luckily not so bad. They destroyed a full meter off the top of one of my gums (luckily I was planning on a trunk chop!) and have managed to kill another of my Eucs (despite only eating a few leaves off that one). No idea why the one least damaged is dying, and the one that had 95% of its leaves eaten, is still alive and kicking... still trying figuring that out
Anyways, this is a pic of the leaf damage. Apparently they strip the leaves when they are young, but the older ones will eat the entire things. Pic of the top part of the tree, I discovered them late at night (I don't get to see my plants in daylight during the week
This is where I'm confused. I don't know why they are cocooned in the leaves? Everything I've read, says the Adult wasp lays eggs on or in the leaves, which they cut using the saw like 'ovipositor' (where the name sawfly comes from). Once they've hatched, eaten and are ready to develop, they usually dig underground or bore into the bark (depending on the type of sawfly), and cocoon themselves there. I cannot find any that curl the leaf over and coccoon in there? Anyone else heard of this?After I cut one of the leaves open to see what I was dealing with... was NOT expecting a whole pile of spitfires lol
Went to the confidor thinking that would help (now realise it doesn't) and found one of them on the bottle taunting me further
Anyways, just thought I'd share the pics for anyone else that may come across them, and also to find out what the deal is with the coccoon in the leaf? I'm very curious about that
Cheers
Jas
