disease-pests Bug ID help (holes in leaves)

georgej

georgej

i was out having a quick look at my plants and noticed one (only one mind you) had leafs that looked like this
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so i had a closer look and i found this

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none of it was moving, so i began to wonder that perhaps one of the many spiders around that side of the house had set up home? i find webs between the plants constantly. or is this something else entirely?
 
anyway, i checked all the leaves thoroughly and my initial fears of an enormous aphid infestation (though i admit that wouldn't explain the holes in leaves) were put on hold as i found nothing on the underside anywhere.

Only bug i did find was this. running around on the top side of one leaf.
cZGqh8R.jpg

 
any ideas what's going on here? only one plant affected thus far and admittedly not that badly.
 
Are those actual holes in the leaf, or something else? Broad mites suck out the cell contents, leaving what appears to be a hole. However, on closer inspection you'll find the outer cell structure remains, but it's empty of the green stuff. Basically you see the "skeleton" of the leaf. If it's broad mites, you won't see then with the naked eye - nothing less than a jeweler's loupe with 30x magnification will make them apparent. 
 
Can't say about the other stuff. But - keep in mind that aphids go through several life cycle stages. Google aphid life cycle to see the various forms they can take. I don't think the stringy, webby stuff is aphids, though - that's not their m.o.
 
they are actual holes in the leaf yep.
 
i'm thinking the stringy stuff was a spider web, because theres alot of spiders around. i even found a tiny one camped out in between new leaf buds when looking at the plants a while ago.
 
couldn't find any snail trails etc either. whatever was on the plant doesn't seem to have hung about
 
My favorite answer of the season - flea beetles! Not sure if you have them in Japan but if not I can send some for free! It does look like you have a busy spider which is always a great hing. 
 
The critters caught in the spiderweb looked like mostly gnats and midges... not really plant feeders. Do you have a small body of open fresh water nearby? The holes look like flea beetle damage to me, but I don't know if you have them where you are. As serious as the Japanese are about agriculture, my guess is that there's some kind of prefecture agronomy officer who is up on the local agricultural pests and can help farmers identify and deal with them.
 
ive had alot of black flies hangin around my plants, yeah. so i put up some yellow sticky traps mainly to stop me walking through a cloud of flies when i get home. i wouldn't put it past spiders to take advantage of it.
the side where the 7 pots are has a communal light outside my door, so there's hundreds of spider webs that have set up to tackle the bugs that fly toward the light.

i'll see in the home centre tomorrow if i can find anything for flea beetles. they have a pictorial guide for different common pests and fungal ailments.
 
my mother in law gave me some mugwort solution which she's told me to spray on plants as a repellent for just about anything. i've been reluctant to do it seeing as i have about 2 dozen lacewing eggs out on my plants. any opinions??

Re open freshwater nearby - lots! Open storm rivers because when it rains it pours. The river runs about 200 yards from my house. Then about 300 yards in the other direction is the tamagawa river. Which runs for about 140km and is enormous.
 
georgej said:
 
ive had alot of black flies hangin around my plants, yeah. so i put up some yellow sticky traps mainly to stop me walking through a cloud of flies when i get home. i wouldn't put it past spiders to take advantage of it.
the side where the 7 pots are has a communal light outside my door, so there's hundreds of spider webs that have set up to tackle the bugs that fly toward the light.

i'll see in the home centre tomorrow if i can find anything for flea beetles. they have a pictorial guide for different common pests and fungal ailments.
 
my mother in law gave me some mugwort solution which she's told me to spray on plants as a repellent for just about anything. i've been reluctant to do it seeing as i have about 2 dozen lacewing eggs out on my plants. any opinions??

Re open freshwater nearby - lots! Open storm rivers because when it rains it pours. The river runs about 200 yards from my house. Then about 300 yards in the other direction is the tamagawa river. Which runs for about 140km and is enormous.
 
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That's pretty cool that your MIL gave you some Mugwort sol'n to try on the peppers. Has she used it on Nightshades before? If it doesn't adversely affect Tomatoes or Eggplant, it should be OK for Peppers too.
 
I ask about water nearby because Gnat and Midge larvae are aquatic insects.
 
i think mugwort is mainly used for fungal/mildew, which given the humidity in Japan can be a problem.
I sprayed the mugwort solution on the plants way back when i put them outside the first time and i didnt notice any side affects.
 
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