Caterpillar problems

Hi,

I have a raspberry bush (I know it’s not a vegetable) and something has been eating it for weeks now, but I’ve not found out what it was, that was until last night. It’s caterpillars; my raspberry bush is in a large pot, next to strawberries in a planter (which aren’t being eaten) – I don’t want them to eat my strawbs! Anyway my question is what can I do to get rid of them?

Thank you

Depends if you are wanting to be organic if not put the critter in a jar and take to the garden center in your area.Ask them for a spray or the organic dust that lots of folks use to combat crawlers.I don't know what products you have in your area so a garden center is best source for you. Maybe one of your countrymen will step up and dial you in closer.

The best way is to kill them before they leave the tent by burning them up.If you look at your bushes at night you may find them balled up for the night in groups and just pick them off and throw them in a bucket of soappy water and get the majority of them.

Well I don't mind about being organic or not to be honest I just want rid of the things. I doubt the garden centre would be of any use, I've taken a leaf in before from a pear tree which had obvious earwig damage and they didn't have a clue, and we don't seem to have any specialist places around.

I'll have an investigate tonight (provided it doesn't rain) to see if I can see any more of them. I did pull most of the chewed leaves off yesterday but my dad did suggest a soapy spray, would that work?

Can you take a picture of the caterpillar and post it? There are lots of people here who could identify it with a picture and tell you what to do.

If i find another one I will :-) I've only actually seen the one on the bush, but I've not looked that closely really. I can describe them in the mean time...It was maybe about 2cm long, very thin and small, the body appeared clear with a black line down the inside - kind of like a sausage roll lol the sausage being the black bit and the clear bit being the pastry. I'll look for more on the bush but I threw most of the eaten leaves away.

Hi dipsy,

I don't think what you describe is a caterpillar. I'm not sure about your measurements either, 2cm is not so far off an inch (2.54cm to 1"). What you're describing sounds like a Syrphid fly larvae, they eat greenfly as well as other nasties.

I haven't heard of a Raspberry bush, they grow on canes but do multiply with more canes coming from the base. This years canes will die back over winter after the leaves drop off anyway, so I wouldn't be too concerned. If you have new canes grown this year the leaves will drop off those too at this time of year, regrowing in spring and they will produce next year's fruit. You should cut off the old canes, or easier still, wait until after winter when they have died off then they break off easily saving a lot of hassle.

The only real pest I know raspberries have is the Raspberry beetle, which lays it's egg near the developing fruit. It's suggested they should be sprayed when the fruit starts to ripen (turn pink) but I prefer to take my chances than poison myself or wildlife! Mine haven't done very well since the hot 2006, too dry even in the last two years with cold summers they haven't recovered well. I was thinking of digging them up and using the ground for other things, once the Raspberry fly takes over (and it always does!) it's an uphill battle. The canes would do a lot better in the ground than in a pot.

http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/pages/news/news.asp?sCCGroup=AskTheExpert&sCCPage=Asktheexpert_11&cookie%5Ftest=1

It's nice to think the leaves can be used by some form of wildlife before they drop off. Keeping it organic has a way of encouraging the birds and other creatures which will best sort any problem.

You might be right there wallaby1. I don't think they look like the syrphid fly larvae (I looked at pics on google) but they do semi look like other fly larvae; although I haven't seen any flies around my plant, plus the raspberries weren't damaged at all.

I had another look last night and found 2more "caterpillar things" except they were different to the one I saw previously. These ones may well be small larvae I took a photo but because they were so small they didn't come out very well - I'll post them next time I am on the computer at home. These caterpillar things were about 1cm in length, about 2-3mm wide and were green in colour.

I'll have a look again tonight to see if I can see any and eventually get a picture of the bigger ones.

I only got the plant this year and I think the canes are new ones - they were greeny in colour when I bought them, although the stems are starting to turn into that woody complexion now. I read somewhere green were new, and the woody type were older ones - although most of the info found was contradictory.

I do know the plant would do much better in the ground but unfortunately I don't have any where to put it in the ground so it is in a fairly big pot - I also feed it with organic strawberry food (as well as my strawberries). It's done fine so far, its grown about 2-3 foot since I got it, its filled out and produced more fruit than I was expecting - I'm not growing it for the eating of it, I'm more growing it for the challenge and any fruit is a bonus.

Maybe you have larvae of Green Lacewing or Ladybirds? I'm not sure (without checking) at what time of year you would see them though, there are lots of different Syrphid flies and some do lay their eggs late in the year and your description sounds more like Syrphids. Ladybirds I would be surprised to see now, they are coming inside now, the Asian variety anyway! Green Lacewing do lay more than one lot of eggs I think, and some overwinter as adults but the larvae description doesn't seem to fit.

Any pic might give an idea even if it's not the best.

Oh I agree with you on the challenges, lol, been doing that for a few years too! Now I'm getting tempted to try one of those perpetual fruiting varieties! Lol.

New canes will start green when they are soft, but as they mature they turn a brighter yellowish-brown colour than the old ones. Once the old canes die back completely you can easily see the difference. In spring the old ones won't grow again, the new ones will show new buds starting to burst.

When you first replant raspberry canes they are usually cut back to a few inches to encourage new growth, so the present year's fruiting canes would likely have grown last year. There are some however which can fruit on new canes I believe, it's a while since I checked them out and progress happens. Division can be done from this time of year to late winter or early spring, it would be the following year then before you get fruit on most varieties.

Do you know what variety it is, there are several varieties for different fruiting times. Some are late fruiting but I find the late ones attract flies which tend to hatch out later in the season.

I think they they are called "Glen Ample" raspberries, they have fruited this year all ready, except for one raspberry hanging around still haha. I think they are summer fruiting rather than all year fruiting - I did look when I first bought it but now I don't remember.

I totally forgot about posting the photo. I was even on the computer at home last night as well; stupid me. I'll do it next time :-(.

The problem is I haven't found many of the caterpillar things, I've been looking for weeks and only this week have I found some. I only have photos of the tiny green ones and not the bigger one, I did think about it at the time and then thought to myself there will be another one on I'll just take the photo of that.

On an asside point, if I leave the canes on from this year will they be ok to leave until next year, because that way I will definately see which are old and which are new since you mentioned that the old ones won't re-grow?

These little larve move around, or can be victims themselves of birds. :(

Yes leave the old canes on, I always do until they start to regrow in spring, much easier that way to just snap them off. The old ones will look very dry so no problem.