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Massive damage in Connecticut!!
Hello from Connecticut,
I was out in the garden today and noticed that our dogwood shrub was totally without leaves. A few left over ones were mostly chewed. This poor bush suffered from a drought last year and has now been stripped naked! The culprits were piled all over the last remaining leaves. So now the question is, do I dump them into a bucket of soapy water or are they good for the environment? They were here last year too. I hate to kill anything, but have a number of shrubs they could continue to eat. Thanks so much for your advise!
Tricia

Hi Tricia,
We do not give extermination advice. These are Dogwood Sawfly Larvae in the genus Macremphytus.

Update: 908/16/2008)
Thanks for the information Daniel,
They’ve hit the next dogwood bush as well. Our property is a certified wildlife habitat, so extermination is not my choice by any means. Unfortunately, when one species gets out of control, sometimes I need to step in to back it off some. We only use organic methods for everything so we do as little harm as possible. It’s absolutely amazing how many bees, butterflies and hummingbirds we have around the yard! Again, thanks for the help. We know most birds and plants, but now are working on getting to know the insect population.
Tricia

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