Recognize and fight sawfly

Recognize the Solomon's Seal sawfly

The adult specimens of the Solomon's Seal sawfly look relatively inconspicuous and can sometimes be mistaken for flies due to their glossy black and smoky gray coloration. While these adults do not cause any direct damage to the plants, the caterpillars pose a danger in the larval stage, as they sometimes only have rib-like structures on the leaves of the Real Solomon's Seal leave behind. The caterpillars are light gray-greenish or almost whitish in color, sometimes also a little bluish with increasing size. The caterpillars are relatively easy to identify optically by:

• a powdery wax coating
• black thoracic legs
• a round, black head capsule

Way of life and development stages of the Solomon's seal sawfly

The adult specimens of this sawfly hatch in spring and fly around the host plants in the mating season from mid-April to mid-May. The females then lay their eggs with a

saw-like Ovens in the stalks of the Solomon's seal. After the larvae hatch at the end of May, the growth phase of the rapidly developing caterpillars usually only lasts about 2 to 3 weeks. Then the larvae pupate in a cocoon in a burrow before the cycle begins again next spring. Since the Solomon's sawfly is very faithful to its location, damage to the plants occurs repeatedly without countermeasures being taken.

Protect the Solomon's seal from the sawfly in the garden

Often the caterpillars responsible for feeding damage to the leaves are not discovered straight away, as they are mainly on the underside of the foliage when exposed to sunlight. In general, no chemical pesticides are required if you simply collect the caterpillars with gloves. If individual stems of your plant stock show reddish discolouration, which indicates that eggs are being laid by the Solomon's seal sawfly, the affected parts of the plant can be cut off and checked in a timely manner to be burned.