What are these worms? - Ask Extension
June 4th is when we first discovered these worms on our evergreen trees. They seem to be attracted to the scotch and white pines. They are destroying ...
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What are these worms? #872944
Asked June 13, 2024, 12:06 PM EDT
June 4th is when we first discovered these worms on our evergreen trees. They seem to be attracted to the scotch and white pines. They are destroying them by eating all of the needles. Can you tell me what these worms are and how we can get rid of them? Unfortunately we live in a pine forest so they are doing quite a lot of damage to our forest. Here are some photos of the trees that they have destroyed and a video/photo of them worms.
I tried to upload a video but it was too large to send.
Stearns County Minnesota
Expert Response
Thanks for your question.
These are the larvae of the pine sawfly (Diprion similis). See the following for additional information about it including control measures:
https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/sawflies
https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/sawflies - introduced-pine-sawfly-1025761
https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/sawflies - using-pesticides-1113863
Good Luck in dealing with this pest. Thanks for consulting us.
