Saturday, June 6, 2015

Vineyard Scouting: Turn the Leaf Over

It's a good thing to go through the vineyard every so often. I did that yesterday while my husband tried his new weeding attachment. The vines looked fine, they were growing, but I came upon this partially skeletonized leaf. I belong to the Anonymous Society of Leaf Turners, headed by Pamm Cooper, whom I met through the University of Connecticut Extension Master Gardener Program. In Connecticut, a good place to learn about the latest in flora and fauna is at the UConn Home & Garden Center on Facebook. What Pamm taught us in the Master Gardener course is that when you see a leaf that has been partially
skeletonized, like this one, you need to turn the leaf over and see if you can figure out who is doing the damage.
Of the many times that I have walked the vineyard and turned leaves over, this is one time that I thought, "Caught you!" It was a tiny green caterpillar. It appears to me to be a member of the Sphinx moth caterpillar but I haven't been able to positively ID it.

No comments:

Post a Comment