Holes in my leaves

Holes in my leaves - sounds like a song title doesn't it.
I'm growing runner beans for the first time this year and lots of the leaves have small holes appearing. No damage to the beans, just the leaves. Just noticed that my young clematis and my polyanthus have the same problem.
Is it whitefly - or can anyone offer me any other explanation (and cure) please?

 

If there's no other damage it could be Leaf cutter bee They don't do a lot of damage and are excellent pollinators.

Whitefly don't make holes in leaves but feed on the sap which weakens the plant. They also exude honeydew, a sticky sugary substance that reduces leaf efficiency, then a fungus causes a black sooty mould to form which does even more damage.

[ 23. July 2006, 02:41 PM: Message edited by: frogesque ]

 

Leaf-cutter bees remove segments of leaf. Are your holes small pin pricks, pea-sized holes or cut away segments?

 

Thankyou for the info Frogesque. Something new learnt there about whitefly.
Hornbeam they sre small pin pricks - that describes them very well.

Haven't seen any bugs, leaf cutter bees or anything on the leavss at all. Problem is definitely getting worse though. My polyanthus leaves are beginning to look like stencils!

 

Flea beetles make tiny holes in leaves of various plants. Only a problem when they attack seedlings and young plants as too many holes weaken the plants. At this time of year, your beans will be mature plants and will not suffer any harm. However, you don't want the tiny flea beetles around next spring. When you have harvested your beans, have a good tidy up and grow next years beans on another patch - crop rotation prevents a serious build up of pests. In other words - don't grow the same crop on the same soil every year.

 

Thanks for that Hornbeam. In fact I've just been out with my torch and found the polyanthus covered in tiny caterpillars. So that answers that one as well! Nothing on the beans so I shall take your advice. Thanks again.

 

This seems like a good title to put this pic under ...



Disgusting, isn't it? I can't find the culprit(s) ... should I just take all these leaves off?

 

a bit hard to tell, LoL - can't see the pic!! "This image has been moved or deleted" :rolleyes: :D

 

Weird .. I see it!

 

Now I don't .....

 

I see it again ...

 

It's still there ????

 

not for me, it isn't!! how about e-mailing it to me???

 

Done ... e-mailed! Can anyone else see it?

 

nope........