One of the weirdest things at the PW show
was the obvious state of the little box-hedge (more of a shrubbery . . . Ni!
Ni!) out the back of the venue, which upon closer inspection turned out to be an
infestation of the previously scheduled and notifyable pest; the box tree moth
(cydalima perspectalis), or - at
least - its caterpillars/larvae.
You will read all sorts of horror stories
about these triggering fatal allergy reactions and such like, but as far as I
am aware no Toy Soldier enthusiasts were harmed in the course of the day's
event, while even handling them only results in mild skin-irritation from the
hairs, if you are susceptible to such things; nevertheless - caution is the
better part of valour in these cases, so
. . . photograph from a safe distance and leave well-alone!
An infestation used to have be reported
(which the management at the Wining Post said they'd done), but there have been
so many reports in the last couple of years, and so little is known of the full
life-cycle/lifestyle of the animal, the war's rather been lost for now; still, some
attempt to end the infestation also needs to be carried out, which - by/to the
date of the show - clearly hadn't been. One hopes 'contractors' were due on the
Monday?
This is the little critter in close-up,
looking like some of our native caterpillars (you have to have a higher degree
of expertise than I have to sort some, especially all the plain-green ones!),
or, specifically, the saw-fly larvae who attack roses - mercifully they've not
appeared this year, probably due to all that rain at the start of the month (June)? Although the failure of any species,
however seasonal, or 'one off', is bad news in the long term and it's the same
rain that probably killed the old Brambly?
Those of you who suffer an attack like this
at home can solve the problem before it escalates by putting on gardening
gloves and squishing every caterpillar you can find, before spraying the
infected plant with a strong mix of washing-up liquid and water. Check the site
for the next few days to catch any survivors/stragglers!
But you should still report the incident so
it can be plotted on some secret map in the RHS 'war rooms'! If you catch it in
time, the plant will survive, but damage this severe can prove fatal, maybe the
rains which came a couple of weeks later will have saved the plants, but had
this damage occurred before the recent heat-wave (or continued into the
heat-wave), the plants may have been lost - I'll try to remember to look next
year!
Below are the rest of the shots I took for
those of you who may be more interested in the subject . . .
These are rose saw-fly larvae, relatively
harmless (not for the rose!) which are among those native caterpillars who
could be mistaken for the box tree moth. Their head and bum colouring are
reversed from the invader though, with a yellow head and much smaller area of
black at the other end, while their markings are quite different; less stripy,
more spotty.
They congregate gregariously in sibling
groups - like the invader - but don't leave the mass of dead-material (only
because rose is softer than box, so they eat it all!), nor do they produce the
fine haze/shroud of 'spider-web' strands.
Another gregarious-feeding native which
could be mistaken for the problem incomer is the buff-tipped moth's
caterpillars, but they are much furrier, black at both ends and more checkered
in the markings.
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