Leafrollersare small caterpillars, reaching about an inch in length, often with dark heads and bodies in colours ranging from green to brown. Although there are many varieties of Leafrollers most share the same characteristic of the caterpillar, curling the leaf around itself, protecting itself from birds and other animals who like to eat them! They feed inside nests made from leaves of their host plants, rolled together, and tied with silk. Once inside their leaf nests, leafrollers chew holes through the tissue, sometimes adding more leaves to the nest to keep themselves protected from predators.

A few leafrollers are nothing to worry about; you can easily cut the few damaged leaves from your plant without causing stress. Carefully pick through infested plants and those nearby to ensure you’ve gotten all the caterpillars. Make sure to check back regularly! Leafrollers don’t hatch all at once, especially if more than one species is present. When numbers are very high, we suggest using BUG-X OUT to ban the leafrollers from your plants. If you have had leafrollers the year before, we suggest using BTK as a preventative measure.

You can prune 1/3 of your plant before causing stress. So try your best to remove any affected parts first.

‍

‍

‍