What is eating my rose leaves ?

Sawfly Caterpillar type Larvae

This is a lime green and dark green colour sawfly caterpillar type larvae which I caught 3 days ago inside the rose folded leaf.

This creature eats the rose leaves. It is active in warm weather which is the sawfly egg laying season from late spring to early summer but I caught them also in winter in the month of February. These sawfly larvae can also survive in freezing cold and snow. Therefore, be vigilant and when you see it remove it by hand and kill it or feed to your chickens if you keep them, as long as you don’t use any pesticides.

This Caterpillar-like larvae feed on plant foliage and it can destroy an entire rose plant or defoliate the entire rose tree. There are many different sawfly larvae species which attack the various other plants also.

What are Sawfly ?

Sawfly is a flying insect. It is related to bees and wasp but does not sting. It is active in late spring to early summer and lay their eggs in stems and leaves during this season.

There are pesticides sprays for it but not very effective most of the times, because these chemicals cannot prevent sawflies from laying or depositing their eggs. These pesticides are normally used when larvae are present. Also, some pesticides can be harmful to plants. It can be controlled without any chemical. Just need to be vigilant.

These images I have shown are only one kind of sawfly which I have caught in my garden hovering over my rose plants and sucking sap. But there are many different types of sawflies.

This type of  Sawfly Larvae  which is pale yellow and pale green, I found on my Bee balm plant.

I made video of Rose Sawfly Larvae eating our rose leaves.