Saw Fly larvae

[EJ]

These worms ate about 3/4 of the needles off a few Red Pine in my yard. I sprayed with malathion and seem to have killed them off. Will the trees live? Will the bugs come back? They left the spruce and white pine alone, but trashed the reds. The trees are about 12' tall.

Thanks,

EJ

[Powerstroke]

They have been particularly viscious this year. We have 2 10ft pines that have been completely defoliated except for the new years growth.

In general, the trees should recover. The trees I know of may not make it. They are in a rough spot and don't have many things going for them.

Try to fertilize the tree and keep it watered in order to help it survive any other problems in its weakened state.

For anyone else with sawfly, they are very easy to kill and can even be controlled by knocking them off the plant or using the hose. I've kept my mugho pine mostly green this year by just doing it the hard way. Otherwise any qualified nursery or garden center can recommend an insecticide. They are easy to kill so something pretty mild is all that is needed.

I can't say that I've ever heard of them getting to the white pines, but I know that spruce trees will get hit as we get into june.