Has anyone else in the Northeast (I'm in the NE Pennsylvania area) noticed their native viburnums being devoured down to the twig by some sort of small worms?
Specifically, we have fields dotted with what I know of as Arrowwood Viburnum (straight stems, shiny-ish leaves, blue fruit), which was almost too plentiful and seemed to proliferate everywhere. Last year, I noticed many were denuded by small worms (which also attacked a snowball viburnum I had planted). Later in the season, the shrubs recovered with a new flush of leaves. This year, however, the same thing happened, and I'm afraid they won't recover again from such devastation by whatever these insects are.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Native Viburnums being attacked
Do you have a picture of these worms?
No knowledge about this, sorry.
Baby viburnum leaf beetles?
I believe you have the little green worms that develop from the winter moth. These are small, brown moths that you will see
in Dec. flying around outdoor lights, against lit windows and even swarming around your car headlights. In the spring these
become the little green worms you mention, "parachuting" out of trees but only after they have eaten most of the leaves. I
live on Cape Cod and have been infested with them for several years. The leaves on my trees were left in tattered shreds and
are just now beginning to leaf out again. They love tender new leaves, I have Columbine that were skeletonized leaving only
a pathetic flower at the end of the stem. Several years ago I had the trees sprayed [$225] and the following year it was much
better. This year, however, they have dined well. They seem to be pretty much gone now. Google winter moth for more info
and good luck.
Pinetop...If unsure bring them to the County Extension Office of the Master Gardeners group...they are located in downtown Scranton at the County Courthouse Annex Building. This area, all of NE PA, has been hit with the Viburnum Leaf Beetles really bad...most insects do damagae as either larva or adults, the VLB do damage in both the larval stage AND the adult stage. Paul Epsom of Greystone Gardens (the English guy from the Victory Garden show on PBS) did a brief chat about the VLB on one of the Victory Garden's shows last year.
Thanks, all, for your posts. I've been away from the site for over a week and just got the responses now. Thanks!
Hemhostaholic, we are about an hour west of Scranton, so I daresay VLB is the culprit. I will definitely check out the web for more information. Sadly, there doesn't seem much to be done when one is facing fields of bare, brown stems. I really thought these shrubs, which are over a lot of our property, were a bit of a nuisance, and had cut a number of them back and/or down. Now, seeing them suffer so and many of them give up the ghost, I miss their greenery and blue berries.
Here is a photo, not of the insect, unfortunately, but of the damage in the landscape. All of those brown, leafless shrubs at the meadow's edge are/were Arrowwood Viburnums . . .
And another photo . . .
Wow, that's a sadly dramatic sight.