What is eating my plant and how do I treat it?

Hello all!

I'm really hoping you can provide some advice on an issue I am having with a plant in our courtyard.

(Full disclosure. I have no gardening experience and after scouring the internet without luck, I have joined the forum to hopefully get some direction on the matter).


A particular plant in our rented courtyard (I must apologise here as I do not know the plant name) is clearly being eaten by something. Clean holes, always starting from the edge, are being taken out of the youngest leaves. See a snapshot below of the young red leaves, with the darker ones unaffected behind.


After doing some research on google, the most obvious suggestion in my view was the "leaf cutter bee". However, based on the amount of leaves affected in such a small courtyard with very little bees in circulation, I'm led to think that this insect may not be the root cause. I work next to the plant all week and have never noticed bees in the vicinity. I will continue to look however.

Other insects such as aphids and slugs also did not fit the bill in my view. Yes, there are slugs in the courtyard, but again with the volume of leaves and slightness of some of them, I could not envisage slugs causing such damage. Additionally, on inspection of the plant a number of times, I have not come across a slug at any stage on the plant.

What is interesting however when I look at the underside of the affected leaves is the presence of an almost microscopic bug on each leaf. The bug is so small I cannot closely identify it with the naked eye. See the photo below of on of these bugs highlighted with the blus circle..


It is certainly a bug that moves around. It does not fly away. I see about 2-4 on most leaves and have a feeling that these may be involved. I cannot determine what they are however. They are white/opaque. That's all I can confirm. Nothing online seems to fit the bill in my view.

Are bugs of such a size something anyone has encountered before with such a problem? Or could it be something else?

I'm based in London and the plant has had these holes present for a number of months, however it has become more prominent recently.

I would really appreciate some advice on this as I would like to ensure the plant is not being seriously damaged! My landlord went to a lot of effort to create a nice living space for us and we would like to honour it!!

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Sean

 

Vine Weevil would be my guess.

 

Pretty sure its not leaf cutter bee, they cut out very regular shaped circles, first thought was vine weevil, the biggest problem will be that they are laying eggs and the grubs that hatch will eat away at the plant roots all winter.

 

Thanks for your thoughts JAS and Pete. I'll have seen one of two of these bugs about now that you mention it. I'll work on targeting it.

 

Hi,

Is this what you have seen ?


If so its not so much the leaf damage thats the problems, its the grubs eating the roots away over winter, then you notice the plants are dying next spring.

Two main courses of action use an insecticide drench like Provardo or a dench of Nematoes like Nemasys.