Use grease band to combat winter moth caterpillars

13:15 25th November 2010

Garden and greenhouse fans who find holes in the leaves of their favourite trees might have a problem with winter moth caterpillars.

The insects lay their eggs in late autumn and the caterpillars then spend the spring chowing down on the leaves of apple, pear, plum and cherry trees, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) explained.

Ornamental trees such as oak, sycamore, hornbeam, hawthorns and hazels are also at risk and growers who wish to take action can do so by investing in some greasy bands to wrap around the trunk.

This helps to reduce the frequency of egg-laying and can limit the number of insects reaching maturity.

For those who wish to go down the chemical route, garden centres may be able to sell deltamethrin or lambda cyhalothrin, which should be applied just after budding.

As well as holes in the leaves, the greenery is often bound together with silky thread and partially eaten during spring.

The damage is most apparent in summer when the leaves will have reached maturity and the gaps in them will have expanded fully.

In other news, the RHS suggested that autumn is a good time to get new trees into the ground.