based on the picture provided ... see link.. and let us know which one it is ..

some ONLY eat last years needles.. and arent that big a deal ...

some pines are magnets... i just have a hand held quart sprayer with a pyrethrum based insecticide ... of my hundreds of pines.. i usually only find them on the same 3 or 4 every spring ...

i ignore them on a plant of any great size ... and only deal with them on the tiny plants ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

If they are sawfly larvae and they're still small, insecticidal soap works like a charm. The sooner you treat them, the better.

tj

yeah... thats the one i couldnt remember.. lol ...

if there is a gang of one inchers.. and you wave your hand over them.. they all lean back... very entertaining [???] ...

and those are the ones that eat ONLY last years needles.. which means .. once the pine buds out fully ... you dont see the damage ...

see link

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

A few years ago we had a couple small mugo pines on our property. One year I noticed one of them was covered in small, 1" long green and black worms. Turned out to be sawfly caterpillars. We used an insecticide and got rid of them. Or so we thought.

The next year ALL of the mugo pines were covered with them. Used insecticide again on all the mugos, killed all the caterpillars. Third year they came back again. We decided to simply get rid of the mugos. Have not seen any sawfly caterpillars since (knock on wood!).

TYG

Many thanks,will get some soap and give them a bath.It is a five + foot tree but will try to prevent them from going to the younger smaller Pines.
Peter

Ken,
Don't see these things in the post you sent.They were like white thread and would stand up and wave ti the air really strange.Not big enough to eat much in this stage.