My lemon tree leaves keep being eaten! I’ve tried white oil for ages and recently caterpillar spray but it’s still being eaten. Any ideas what’s eating it and how to prevent it?
Thanks!
by acaciamary
My lemon tree leaves keep being eaten! I’ve tried white oil for ages and recently caterpillar spray but it’s still being eaten. Any ideas what’s eating it and how to prevent it?
Thanks!
by acaciamary
6 Comments
Maybe the good old possums or 🐀 rats cage it wrap it up it will come back ,give it some fertiliser water etc
You won’t believe me but its very likely a possum. They love citrus. You can tell because caterpillars won’t eat through the main stem of the leaf but possums just chomp away transverse. Wallabies will do the same but there would likely be nothing left of it at all if wallabies were involved. Try netting it and it should come back eventually
Check it over just in case there’s any chewy critters then cover it with small gauge bird netting. Likely to be possums as others have said.
Get some eucalyptus oil, mix a few drops with some water and a small amount of dish soap, spray this around your plants but not on them, This will help (not a definite solution) deter possums or other mammalian pests that could be getting a free feed. (If it even is a mammalian pest). The oil in small amounts sprayed onto the foliage can also help deter insectan pests.
maybe move it? They seem to like lots of water and lots of sun
Could be grasshoppers? I have what seemed like an apocalyptic plague of them in my garden this year. My poor rhubarb went from tropical lush leaves larger than dinner plates to a few stripped stalks almost overnight. Anyway, the photo in your post looks a lot like the damage they did to my poor citrus trees. In which case, exclusion netting.
I’d bought about 100 insect nets off amazon for my plum trees (fruit fly. Side note: I know were are having an insect ecosystem collapse, but why are all the survivors in MY garden? Coastal brown ants, citrus gall wasp, citrus leaf miner, grasshoppers, pumpkin fly, fruit fly, and … snails) Insect nets for fruit fly are also great for keep grasshoppers off your plants. Anyway, you need to place some kind of physical barrier over your lemon tree. Or, I see it’s in a pot – can you bring it inside?