What's making these slime trails?

14 years ago

Okay, Ken, is that descriptive? :)

I'm uploading several pictures to Flickr, of what I found on my morning walkabout in the garden, to see how the sun strikes each pot, if anything has attacked any plants during the night hours. I always pick off the fallen tree leaves, a sure-fire way to discover slugs etc.

Well, I found something new this morning. Extensive slime trails around the pot glistened like spun silver in the morning sun, and I removed carefully three oak leaves from this small pot in my small hosta allee (walkway or alley).

And there they were. Fat, full, and slimy. Four worms or larva, which I'm thinking could be the hatching sawfly larva?

But I've never seen these things before, so I don't know.

Don't think they are slugs, because they are usually dark brown and different shaped, not really wormy looking. However, I'm told there are many KINDS of slugs, so I ask in puzzlement, WHAT ARE THESE SLIME BALLS?

Now, I have out all sorts of safe slug bait, with the iron stuff in it to keep from killing the dogs and wild birds. I've sprayed down all the pots, leaves top and bottom, soil surface, of hosta and nearby plants, with the Bayer systemic containing Merit.

The hosta in this pot had NO leaf or petiole damage that I saw. Nothing chomped on, nothing falling over. But the green oak leaf had some definite signs of a feast around its margins, and four of the dinner guests were still there having a little dessert.

So what is it I have here? Is it another problem? Or is it perhaps what a sawfly larva looks like? Or a newly hatched slug of some rare southern species?

Do I keep doing MORE damage control? Using same stuff? Or will more frequent application of the 1:10 household ammonia/water get rid of them?

Here are the pictures:

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Comments (6)

User
Original Author
14 years ago
The closest match in appearance is the columbine sawfly larva

Here is a link that might be useful: columbine sawfly larva photos
bkay2000
14 years ago
You know, they might not eat hosta. Maybe they just eat oak leaves. Whatever it is, it's not bothering your hosta, so far at least. Maybe you should take a wait and see attitude.

But, it's a strange year for bugs. I never have pest problems - except this year. The bugs are eating big swaths of my plants - not enough to kill them, just enough to make them ugly. I found some caterpillars early on in the season, but can't catch a culprit in the act now. It seems every day I go out and find some new damage on another plant. Dipel seems to stop the damage, but it looks horrible.

bkay
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
is stared at those pix for a long time .. and i have no clue what is there ... i do not see anything but leaf litter ... [i am sure they are there.. i just dont see them ...]

you might try the pest forum ...

ken
anniegolden
14 years ago
I agree, it has been a good spring for the bugs. Sorry, but I can't help ID the little wormy guys, but I did want to mention that my old eyes had a hard time reading the white lettering on your photos. Happy gardening.
Christine
nonnie1
14 years ago
this may be a little off track ,but something has chewed holes in every hosta (only have about 8) they look awfull so i put slug and snail killer around them. can't tell if there has been any more damage because they were all full of holes. my question is can i cut them all the way back to the stem and leave the new growth and will they come back now or what? sorry this is so long but i have no idea what to do.thanks for any help.
bkay2000
14 years ago
I think my problems are primarily moths and their children. Both of the ones I've caught in the act are progeny of moths. I've put out BT and slug bait, just in case there are some slugs I haven't seen.

You know, we didn't have much winter. The bugs are out in force.

bkay