One of my plum trees has hardly a healthy leaf left on it. The leaves are all shriveled and almost burnt looking. I have not sprayed or added strong fertilizers. I’ve searched the leaves and found no aphids. Today I found two grubs inside one curled leaf
Can anyone identify the culprit, and what is the best treatment for getting rid of this tree wrecker.
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I believe that you had aphids there and what you see now is the larvae of a Hooverfly which is in fact a beneficial, that eats aphids. Google Hoover fly larvae I can’t really see enough in your picture to be sure.
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I’m fairly sure those are Curly Leaf Plum Aphids,doing that to your leaves.They almost need a magnifier to see them.I’ve read that they move to other plants,during the season.
Not sure what the larva is.
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Well I guess that explains it. I figured it was aphids, but whenever I uncurled the leaves I couldn’t see any. I was expecting the larger green aphids that usually infest the plum trees. I thought I might have seen something fly out today when I uncurled a leaf, but it was so small I wasn’t sure. Definitely would require a magnifying glass if that was an aphid, it was hardly visible it was so small. The usual aphids I get you can’t miss as they’re fairly large and congregate under the leaves.
Damn those aphids, I try not to spray too often if possible. I’d rather have the lady bugs do my dirty work.
I checked picture on hover fly larvae and you were 100% correct. That was definitely the one.
Thank to both of you for your help.
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