Rose sawflies
Endelomyia aethiops
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How to spot it
From late June onwards the larvae of the rose slug sawfly (Endelomyia aethiops) scrape the leaf tissue from the upper side of the leaf and leave only the thin, translucent skin of the underside and the leaf veins standing. These window like patches soon dry to brown, so that infested leaves look scorched from a distance; later, holes and notches along the leaf margin are added. You can identify the yellowish green larvae with a yellow brown head, which look rather like small slugs, on the upper leaf surface of Rose, climbing rose and apple rose. In our latitudes the sawfly produces only one generation per year.
Prevention
Check your roses regularly from late June and pick off larvae and badly infested leaves by hand. If the infestation is heavy, cut out the affected leaves or whole shoots and dispose of them. An airy planting distance with good ventilation lets the leaves dry off quickly after rain and keeps the plants resilient. Birds, ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies are important natural antagonists; a near natural garden with hedges, a flowering meadow and nesting sites encourages them to settle. In autumn or winter, loosen the soil under the roses carefully to expose overwintering larvae and pupae to the cold and to predators. Robust rose varieties with tougher foliage reduce the infestation pressure from the outset.
Affected plants
These plants in our database are especially susceptible.
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