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pests Ewwww... I appear to have acquired a pest!
- Thread starter HwyBill
- Start date
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
leaf cutter bee...
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1536&bih=783&q=leaf+cutter+bee&gbv=2&oq=leaf+cutter+bee&aq=f&aqi=g5g-m2g-S3&aql=&gs_l=img.3..0l5j0i5l2j0i24l3.1534.4228.0.4723.15.14.0.1.1.0.88.838.14.14.0...0.0.0QgRIMXWp_A
not harmful to the plants other than taking bites out of your leaves...
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1536&bih=783&q=leaf+cutter+bee&gbv=2&oq=leaf+cutter+bee&aq=f&aqi=g5g-m2g-S3&aql=&gs_l=img.3..0l5j0i5l2j0i24l3.1534.4228.0.4723.15.14.0.1.1.0.88.838.14.14.0...0.0.0QgRIMXWp_A
not harmful to the plants other than taking bites out of your leaves...
I got the same promblem, i have both ants, and bees, so i am confused. i also have lizards on the plant, thought maybe they were eating the leaves
I would say it's probably the work of a Hornworm Caterpillar. Not sure how common leaf cutter ants and bees are in Chicago. I would start with some Safer Brand Caterpillar killer. Just spray a small amount on the leaves directly and try and search for caterpillars at night. Whenever I noticed those type of bite marks in leaves I could always find 1-2 of them on my plants after dark when they start feeding.
i think i agree with AJ,
its my experiance that horn worms eat the newest growth, ive never found one that was not on the top of my plants.
i get stuff similar to this from time to time... just a few nips and bits taken from leaves here and there....and have never found a pest associated with it.
its my experiance that horn worms eat the newest growth, ive never found one that was not on the top of my plants.
i get stuff similar to this from time to time... just a few nips and bits taken from leaves here and there....and have never found a pest associated with it.
Tent caterpillars feed during the day, so maybe try pay attention to when the damage is happening. I assume Chicago would have similar bug risks as central Canada.
The hook in the bite on the right-most leaf looks like caterpillar, as they lay along the edge of the leaf and move their head down to eat until it curls back up to reach their body. But the upper left leaf in the picture looks more like a tear than a curved bite. You could have a few different things attacking it, but the majority of the damage is curved.
Are there any strands of silk anywhere on the plant, particularly the forks of the branches? Can be hard to notice unless there's a bunch of them.
Googling for leaf cutter bee damage pictures, they seem to leave damage with both edges round. Same with the ants.. The pictured damage seems less "circley".
You could try putting some sort of home-made glue trap around the base of the plant. If you inspect the plant and decide there are no pests on it, then cut off the ground-based approach, you're only left with air-borne pests.
The hook in the bite on the right-most leaf looks like caterpillar, as they lay along the edge of the leaf and move their head down to eat until it curls back up to reach their body. But the upper left leaf in the picture looks more like a tear than a curved bite. You could have a few different things attacking it, but the majority of the damage is curved.
Are there any strands of silk anywhere on the plant, particularly the forks of the branches? Can be hard to notice unless there's a bunch of them.
Googling for leaf cutter bee damage pictures, they seem to leave damage with both edges round. Same with the ants.. The pictured damage seems less "circley".
You could try putting some sort of home-made glue trap around the base of the plant. If you inspect the plant and decide there are no pests on it, then cut off the ground-based approach, you're only left with air-borne pests.
I have had similar leaf damage in NC. The leaves of our oak and maples have had similar damage.
Canker worms and gypsy moth caterpillars were present in our yard. We have also had many more bees this spring.
The damage was limited and now the caterpillars are gone. The plants seem to be uneffected and are growing gangbusters.
Hornworms don't show up until much later around here and take MUCH more than bites from leaves of my tomatoes.
I do not use any poisons, if it is bees I guess I'm just sc&wed! We have had such a drastic decline in our bee population that I will not do anything that threatens any bee.
Canker worms and gypsy moth caterpillars were present in our yard. We have also had many more bees this spring.
The damage was limited and now the caterpillars are gone. The plants seem to be uneffected and are growing gangbusters.
Hornworms don't show up until much later around here and take MUCH more than bites from leaves of my tomatoes.
I do not use any poisons, if it is bees I guess I'm just sc&wed! We have had such a drastic decline in our bee population that I will not do anything that threatens any bee.
Joseph Stalin
Banned
I feel the same. I love bees until they sting me
then that one dies, but the rest can flourish.Im going to double sided tape my sides of my buckets. Anything that tries crawling up, boooom sticky stick.
In my experioence hornworms like to lop off branches / stems discarding the leaf to use the stem as a straw.
Could be brown cutworms: dig around just under the soil surface, or flood the soil surface for about 20 seonds and they'll come wiggling out for air. If its them you can try putting crispy charcoals from a log fire pre-maturely extinguished across the surface. It 'killls' them to try and go over the stuff.
Could also be grasshoppers.
If you have ants then you might have aphids too! Take a close look under the leaves of the new growth in particular
Looks like what grasshoppers and or inch worms do to my plants.
Grasshoppers will chew the stems of the pod when you get pods.
Cutworms come out at night and chew the bark off the stems near the soil.
They never have crawled up to the leaves as far as I can tell.
Horn worms leave poop pellets and would eat the whole leaf at once if they could.
Inch worms/loopers would be my guess.
See any white butterflies around with a spot on their wings?
I'd use Caterpillar killer-BT spray by safer.
Grasshoppers will chew the stems of the pod when you get pods.
Cutworms come out at night and chew the bark off the stems near the soil.
They never have crawled up to the leaves as far as I can tell.
Horn worms leave poop pellets and would eat the whole leaf at once if they could.
Inch worms/loopers would be my guess.
See any white butterflies around with a spot on their wings?
I'd use Caterpillar killer-BT spray by safer.
no one has mentioned slugs, the bane of my existence, those and aphids of course, trying to keep aphids and slugs off the tomatoes and peppers w/o using chemicals can be an exhaustive proposition, but as was mentioned earlier, here in NC we need to keep the bees we got!
HwyBill
Banned
So.. despite the inability to definitively diagnose the intruders... let's be pragmatic...
Does this limit damage pose any real concern for the overall well-being of the plant?
My father grows peppers, and doesn't do *snap* except plant them in the ground and leave them alone.
He claims to harvest 100+ pods per plant.
Will minor leaf chewage on a small portion of the leaves dramatically effect the overall success of the plant?
Full disclosure: I'm fishing for someone to tell me they will be OK, and just leave it alone unless things take a drastic turn for the worse.
Does this limit damage pose any real concern for the overall well-being of the plant?
My father grows peppers, and doesn't do *snap* except plant them in the ground and leave them alone.
He claims to harvest 100+ pods per plant.
Will minor leaf chewage on a small portion of the leaves dramatically effect the overall success of the plant?
Full disclosure: I'm fishing for someone to tell me they will be OK, and just leave it alone unless things take a drastic turn for the worse.
I'd like to tell you that, but you let the scouts escape back to the main force.
As we speak, a writhing, swarming mass of antbeewormhoppers, great enough to block out the sun with their numbers and smother entire villages with their mass, are making their way to your pepper plant. They are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until your plant is dead
...But seriously, as the damage is, your plant will be fine. You just need to keep an eye on whether the damage is happening faster than the plant is re-growing.
Once something finds a food source, populations have a way of growing exponentially. Just make sure it's passing grazers doing the damage and not something setting up shop in your plants.
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
from personal experience....
caused by
again, no damage to the plants other than a few leaves "nipped"
caused by
again, no damage to the plants other than a few leaves "nipped"