Kitchen Garden Forum

My sole goosegog bush, in a fruit cage, has had two branches stripped of leaves. Other branches and fruit are OK. Thought it might be the odd sparrow that squeezes thro' the door, but someone mentioned "sawfly". Looked it up on the net, but no sign of caterpillars on the bush. Could it be ordinary slugs or snails? Any thoughts - Ta.

Sounds like sawfly they can strip leaves very quickly before you notice. If you have chickens let them scratch around under the plants in the winter to clean the ground.

Hi John,
I think that is almost certain that it is a Sawfly attack. The thing with Sawfly grubs is that they drop to the ground with the slightest bit of vibration and just your footsteps can make them drop.
I feel that it is too late for this year but in future just as the leaves are breaking put a ground cover of polythene and keep a good eye out and if they are present simply tap the plant and they will drop onto the polythene and then you can easily massacre the lot!
They actually drop to the ground finally and will pupate in the soil directly beneath the Gooseberry plant to hatch out the next year the second year the attack is generally worse.
JB.