Something is eating my beech leaves

[Lazylightningny]

And only at night, apparently. Some of my newly emerging beech leaves have holes and parts of the leaves eaten away. I had this problem with a birch last year (which is now dead), but was never able to id the pest. Caterpillars? Slugs? I don't see anything on the leaves when I check.

I just sprayed it with some thuricide (BT), which is supposed to be good for killing caterpillars. Any ideas?

 

[JudyB]

Can you post a photo or two? I had beech leaf problems last year, but I think it wound up being fungal. Started with leaves that looked like this.

 

[Lazylightningny]

There are no brown spots, Judy, just holes. I've never been able to see the buggers, so maybe it only happens at night. I'll post a photo tomorrow.

 

[coh]

Well, the other obvious suggestion would be to go out and take a look in the middle of the night if you haven't tried that. Are there slime trails on the trunk/branches? That would suggest slugs or snails. Are other plants being damaged, or only this one?

A photo of the damage might help, some types of critters leave distinctive patterns.

Chris

 

[Lazylightningny]

No slime trails. I sprayed some BT and the problem seems to have gone away. Could some sort of worm or caterpillar crawl up out of the soil at night?

 

[GrimLore]

I have had that happen to rather tough plants that require being wet but very decorative. Happens to be we are in the same zone and the problem occurred at night, no slime, no trail. I did find buried deep in the substrate what looked like a brown slug(which was eating roots) but it turned out to be some type of grasshopper. Sounds like a grasshopper problem based on what I have seen.

Grimmy

 

[lordy]

not suggesting it is this, but I have removed tent caterpillars this year from a landscape apple tree. Kinda doubt you'd miss that on a bonsai, but certainly could be caterpillars of some sort. It could just be camouflaged so you dont notice him.

 

[that-guy]

Two days ago a was pruning new growth on my azalea when I noticed a few holes in some leaves; I figured it was not any thing big and kept pruning. The a noticed a new big root that just popped up, I touched it and it was soft ..... long story short caterpillars (aka Camouflaged Satan) are ninja assassins of the plant world. No telling what all would have been devoured if I hadn't of found him when I did

 

[Mellow Mullet]

I have had problems with June-bugs or June-beetles eating my elms and zelcova leaves, only at night. Due to my work schedule, I occasionally water after dark and have seen the little devils at work.

John

 

[Paradox]

I have had problems with June-bugs or June-beetles eating my elms and zelcova leaves, only at night. Due to my work schedule, I occasionally water after dark and have seen the little devils at work.

John

Too early for June bugs here (NY). Not warm enough yet.

 

[lordy]

Too early for June bugs here (NY). Not warm enough yet.

June bugs recently appeared in MD. NY watch out!

 

[Lazylightningny]

The problem seems to have resolved after two sprays with thuricide bt

 

[drew33998]

We have those mega-Lubbers down here that really love the tender new growth of leaves. They just started hatching about 2 weeks ago here. I had about 100 babies on a rose bush of mine that I killed with extreme prejudice.