WEB WORM?

Our next door neighbour has a shrubby cotoneaster (the evergreen one with the small red berries)that is now covered in a silky web spun by little caterpillars or worms. The little darlings appear to have sucked the goodness out of the leaves as these are now all brown and shrivelled!

I've done an internet search and all I can find is something called a web worm but this appears to be native to the States.

Has anyone else experienced these and, if so, how did you get rid of them? All help gratefully received - I don't want them spreading to my garden!

 

Has no one any ideas on this one then? Is this a totally new pest?

 

Hi Asianmaze not sure but maybe leaves are dying back because of recent drought,they tend to get cobwebs on any way.some of the others on here might be able to say more.

 

Any chance of a pic? Most caterpillars are capable of spinning silk as well as spiders.

 

My neighbour used some insecticide on them a day ago and they appear to be dead now. Hurrah.

Definitely not the work of drought though, and definitely not spider cobwebs.

I'll have a look later and see if I can get a pic.

 

:( It sounds like a moth-type insect that lays its eggs on the leaves and spins a thick silky-like nest for the little larvae to develop. Around here we have them occasionally (certain years are worse than others). It seems that millions of caterpillars emerge from the nest and gobble up all foliage. The gypsy moth has destroyed entire forests here in Virginia. Here's some info I found about the European moth that may offer some useful information for you: Univ/Kentucky/entymology

 

P. S. I think the links will take you to photographs of the nests, etc. so you may be able to see if its similar to the pest you're seeing.

 

Dunno if it will help - but I often have a catepillar - little green thing - that spins a silky web home - sticking leaves together. Doesn't seem to become a problem, just appears on odd plants - and damages a few leaves - so I usually leave them alone. They don't seem to cause much harm - nothing like the catepillars that I have in the past picked of my roses by the dozen.

Did find a silken home for some baby spiders on my geranium ibericum - they have now found a new home - as I broke the silk, investigating what it was.

 

Thanbk you Valentine. That certainly sounds like it. It's definitely a nasty - now we've managed (we think) to kill the caterpillars and removed the extensive web, the damage is horrendous. Every leaf is stripped and it looks terrible.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that it's done with - certainly we can't see any more caterpillars, so I can't post a picture.

 

I am going to have a go at uploading a picture of the damage - - you can see that the cotoneaster's leaves are stripped but that new growth is happening.

Not much remains of the 'web' now - which at one point stretched 3 foot plus and two foot deep - as my neighbour has brushed it up.

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Very interesting, not seen that before - cos the leaves look like they have died rather than been eaten.

Good thing is that you got new leaves forming, so hopefully all will be well.

 

thought I'd do an update on this. All the leaves grew back and the worms didn't reappear, which was a great relief. We're waiting to see what happens next summer...

Happy New Year to all