Bugs infestation on bush

(Question)

Please see photos. This is the 2nd year all the leaves have been eaten last year I did not notice the bugs maybe I did not look closely but just this week I saw all these black little bugs everywhere they are on The main trunk at the bottom as well.

There’s hundreds or thousands of them

At first I thought of cutting off some of the leaves but now they are on the trunks so I’m not sure what to do Please help thank you.

I have more photos. I’m in Toronto, Ontario and this bush has good sunlight

(Answer)

It is hard, without a full description of the caterpillars in question, to make a positive identification of what is eating your bush. Below you will find a link to a website page that shows pictures of many of the spring caterpillars in Ontario which should help you, in situ, make the identification yourself.

https://backyardnature.net/n/a/coo/

Many of these caterpillars have years where they are not very prevalent and other years, they seem to be eating everything in sight.  Once you know what is eating your bushes, determine if this event cycle occurs frequently or infrequently and then decide on a course of action.  It may be that nothing can be done and you just have to let nature take its course or it may be wise to intervene and stop a plant demise.  Plants that get attacked consistently become stressed and have less tolerance to other pests and diseases.

As you do not say what type of bush you have, and the photo shows the leaf is fairly well eaten, we have another option if this is a Viburnum species.  Lately, we have seen a rise in infestations for Viburnum Beetles with the larvae munching through foliage at an alarming rate.  Please read the question from another enquirer which was answered by the Toronto Master Gardeners just last month, see link below.

Small black caterpillars on viburnum – Viburnum leaf beetle

 

Hope this helps,