Bug Identification

[imadude1134]

I have a couple potted trees (2 cherry, 1 dwarf apple, 1 lemon and 1 orange) that are all fairly youngly planted. The cherrys and apple are about a year old, the lemon is about 2 years, and the orange is about 5 or 6 years old.

The orange and lemon didn't go bare over the California "winter", but the cherrys and apple did. The apple started blooming already, but the cherrys haven't yet.

I went to turn the dirt in the pots, and noticed a weird worm in one of the cherry pots... turns out there are at least 50 in each cherry tree, and about as many in Apple tree, but didn't find any in the lemon or orange tree.

Anyone know what these are, and how to get rid of them?

 

[Beverly]

Well, it is a larva of some sort that doesn't like citrus. I would probably search larval pests of cherry and apple trees to see if you can match up your photo. And/or you can wait until more people are on line who might be able to ID the larva for you.

 

[Chuck]

I have a couple potted trees (2 cherry, 1 dwarf apple, 1 lemon and 1 orange) that are all fairly youngly planted. The cherrys and apple are about a year old, the lemon is about 2 years, and the orange is about 5 or 6 years old.

The orange and lemon didn't go bare over the California "winter", but the cherrys and apple did. The apple started blooming already, but the cherrys haven't yet.

I went to turn the dirt in the pots, and noticed a weird worm in one of the cherry pots... turns out there are at least 50 in each cherry tree, and about as many in Apple tree, but didn't find any in the lemon or orange tree.

Anyone know what these are, and how to get rid of them?

Can you get a picture of his other side? Also can you put something in the picture to show as a scale? All I can tell for sure is that it is a grub worm of some sort. It looks like from this angle a June Beetle larvae.

 

[imadude1134]

Went back out and found a few more and snapped a couple more pictures. Hope these will help. I did notice that on the ground, they seemed to inch like a worm on its back with its 6 "feet" up in the air

 

[Chuck]

Of all the beetle larvae I have encountered these most resemble the Japanese beetle larvae. At this stage of their life there isn't much you can do. They will soon morph into a beetle and fly away. One of the best ways to prevent them is to use beneficial nematodes.

 

[imadude1134]

Thanks for the help. I'll look into the nematodes