I think slugs are the cause. I tried beer traps but that did not work well. This might be helpful: http://www.gardenmyths.com/eggshells-control-slugs/

Have you considered earwigs? Those little bastards hide in the leaves at the base of the plant and only come out at night. Your damage looks too neat to have been caused by slugs.

Good call John it could very well be earwigs I have seen them around the bottom of the pots not many but they are there . For sure the damage is being done during the night time hours i have never seen anything on my tree's that could cause a threat during the daytime.

Brian

My vote is grasshoppers, I have the same damage on my Cara Cara leaves and I've caught many grasshoppers on that particular tree. Also on my Oro Blanco, not sure why they like those particular trees, maybe the leaves taste better to them. When I find them, I flick them off the leaves and it stuns them, then I squish them with my shoe, otherwise once they get over being flicked they jump back up on your tree and continue eating leaves. They're like caterpillars and have voracious appetites they'll eat a lot of leaves.

Evan

my vote is earwigs. I have the same damage on a lot of my plants and think it is time to do something against them. Just not sure what?

I still think it is slugs. Earwigs and grasshoppers make smaller holes and take out smaller pieces of leaves.

I see that damage all the time in my yards (including now)... and I have caught them in action. Katydids (or grasshoppers when they come by). Every time I take a walkabout and spray the leaves, I see them make a move and slap them dead if I can reach them.

The damaged area is too vast / large for earwigs ( I haven't seen earwigs with huge bellies). Slugs / snails leave some veining behind; I have one tree in a slug/snail prone area and the damage is visibly different. The culprits are usually found camping out under the leaves. When I shake the tree vigorously, they usually fall out.

I closely inspect all of my trees once or twice daily and have never seen any grassshopers or katydids on them. Damage must occur at night - slugs.

This time of year there are lots of caterpillars, such as leaf rollers, that are active. But if I saw a grasshopper, I wouldn't hesitate killing it!

It certainly could either / or / or both. I've included a few pictures describing what I see on my trees... My theory is that the katydids attack the upper new growth as they climb and adults can fly rather well. They eat in from the side. Sug/snail damage appears to begin on the lower leaves and include damage that begins at a random point in the center of the leaves. Usually, but not always they leave the veins on older leaves.

This first pic is of my Trovita this past January - note the veining left behind. This tree is close to wet landscaping and was covered with snails and slugs having a party...

OK, and here are a few pictures of the Katydid / combination damage.

Valencia - June: there are no slugs / snails in this dry area that has been consistently dosed with slug/snail killer. I have seen plenty of katydids though.

Just took these - Sanguinelli - and I believe they are from katydids as they are rather high up - have been killing several every week the past few weeks....

I'm having this problem and its slugs doing the damage to my trees and plants.

now I need to know if it is possible to have katydids and how they look like as the damage on my leaves look the same. Will post pics later

Thanks guys. We have earwigs, but I've not seen many of them. I certainly have slugs, but I have noticed that they do damage the lower leaves. I have not ever had slug damage on my citrus perhaps because of the lips on the pots I use?? I don't know. I have had slug damage on purple decorative cabbage I have out front, but they do leave a trail, which I've not seen here. I think it was that green grasshopper I saw. We also have katydids here, but I rarely see them. Vladimir, although I inspect my trees during the day, that little grasshopper was the EXACT color of the leaves and was hiding underneath. One of the branches I posted is very tall and thin. I don't think a fat slug would have been able to get all the way up to the very top and do that. I guess my vote is for grasshoppers, but what can I do??

Katydids - buggers! [not my pic... ]

yup, have seen those. What can be done to prevent damage?

Here is one picture

I might have to spray with something to prevent further damage but what??

The fact that I see chewed leaves at the top of trees makes me think it is due to grasshoppers, which I have seen in my yard but not on my citrus, or katydids, which I have not seen. Here is what UC recommends for treatment:

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r107300411.html

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r107304311.html

I will probably do nothing as the damage is minimal.

I've seen those, but what I saw yesterday was a grasshopper that blended PERFECTLY with the leaves...unbelievable...I almost missed him. He was in a chewed up tree. In a couple of my trees the damage is minimal, however, in the one I posted, all the new shoots are chewed down tremendously. I may cut those limbs back.

Yep, totally grasshoppers/katydids based on the fact that higher leaves are chewed. What can you do? Not much... just check them out once in a while and kill any perpetrators.

I did accidentally let a 2" long Great Black Wasp in my house earlier this week, but I braved the danger and managed to get it back outside once I found out it parasitizes katydids and grasshoppers almost exclusively. Apparently they are voracious hunters!

-Tom

This is why I hesitate to use any pesticides. I'd rather live with the ugly view and hop the next flush it becomes invisible. If the hoppers are getting too bad, might have to rethink the location of my trees. Most damage is on those that are standing in front of my fennel wall.

That is one scary critter Tom! Tom, your comment from another thread was what made me start wondering and looking for them. I do think they devastated two limbs so much that I will trim them...ugh. I hate doing that.

Tom, he looks like something from a 1950's horror movie.

My trees are alongside a huge planting of wild flowers that have grown thick and stand 4 - 5 feet high. The bunnies like to hide in there and I am sure so do whatever is eating my citrus.

The clever things are amazing at blending in when they're at their fourth to sixth stage instars. I wouldn't prune those branches unless you have to because, believe it or not, they're still making food. I've had new buds burst into growth without even hardening off in situations like that during the same flush. Whether or not that's good, I don't know... it's more bug food, haha.

I was considering killing the wasp, but I figured I'd research it a little before I swung the axe. Glad I did because the enemy of my enemy is my friend! Especially when they capture up to 17 katydids per day per wasp (according to this, here's a link to the original source).

-Tom

Was able to go out and squash a huge green grasshopper yesterday that had been ravaging my tarocco orange for several weeks. He was the biggest hopper that I've ever seen and had bugged out eyes like some kind of alien visitor you see in Nevada! (+: When they get full they can't move very quickly so I was able grab him and throw him off the tree pretty easily.

Katydids are bad critters; they can devastate trees in a day or two; they are one of the few things I spray for supplementally when we get a big infestation. Mostly I rely on the wasps to keep the katydids under control. The systemic insecticide we use kills them and helps to break their life cycle; but not before they do a lot of damage. Ironically in Spanish the katydid is called Esperanza, which means hope.

Aren't grasshoppers and katydids edible... and tasty? I think I was told to give them a light toast on the grill to caramelize the citrus leaf sugars inside them.

I'll let you know... : - )

LOL George....let us know ;-). John, that is ironic for sure. Tom, I guess if I see a wasp like that, I will pray it finds the crickets before it finds me! I have been looking again and have seen no grasshoppers and no new damage. I guess for now I'll let the branch go, but it looks so pathetic...

Wasps rarely sting humans, unless they are threatened. Luckily, at least for me, the smallest wasps are the best "enemies of my enemies"

I would let the branch stay, unless you start to get brown (dead) stuff.

I found a katydid on my citrus a few weeks ago, quite by chance I just happened to see one of it's legs. Otherwise, it was incredibly well hidden, looked just like a leaf.

Problem is, they and their cousins, are so hard catch. Usually they fly/jump away too quickly. Looks like azadirachtin might be effective for control.

I have looked for katydids and have found none. Looked for grass hoppers and the only ones I found were in my vegetable garden. But then I noticed chewed leaves on my butterfly bushes, elderberries, coffee plants, wildflowers in my wildflower garden and some other plants. But I saw no katydids or grasshoppers!

Vladimir, katydids blend in so well! I found this guy on my citrus yesterday. (Yes, I found some holes in a few citrus plants also, guys! ) After I tried to catch him, he quickly flew over to my pomegranate. He is the same color as the pomegranate leaves.. I finally captured him and moved him to a different location out in the field with the milkweed and native wildflowers..

The grasshoppers have been munching on my raspberry leaves.. :(

My fruit trees and my vegetable plants are currently enjoying the outdoors on the 11th floor open balcony. I am noticing that earwigs are all over the place, are they harmful and what beneficial insect eats them?

Earwigs are inglorius bastards; they eat everything; and I don't know of any beneficials that eat them.... I think you have to deal with them with conventional insecticides. Cleanliness of the "floor" helps to limit the population as they like to hide under rotting leaves on the soil

That's a great pic Jinny! What amazing camouflage they have. Sunshine, JohnM above mentioned that they do eat leaves, but I don't know about beneficial insects. Hopefully he will chime in.

Oops Laura, didn't read that part :) Your Nagami tree looks beautiful, how old is he/she?

Johnmerr, can you help how to get rid of them.

I decided to do nothing. Does not look pretty I admit but lately I see my Guinea Hens patrolling the trees. Watching closely and see what happens

Love that pic looks like I am going to hire a few of those guy's myself lol.

Brian

Brian they are some noisy birds but so funny to watch.

So cute! I have heard they are very effective at controlling insects. I hope they work for you! Sunshine, I got that kumquat about a year ago and it was a very robust tree then...he is even buffer now ;-). He is the twin of the kumquat I lost this winter. I have another just like him. I think we will have lots of kumquats this winter. My fukushu is also blooming like crazy, so I hope that we will soon get to taste the famous fruit.

I walk my yard 3 or 4 times a day, if i see one i step on them. I don't worry much about them. Maybe it is a beneficial thing like your too fast growing tree get stunted a bit and therefor flower sooner. Who knows.

Since katydids are so good at blending in, sometimes the only time I see them is when I mow the yard. The are really good flyers and they take off and fly when the mower gets close to them. That's the time to shut down the mower and go catch and kill him. It's a kind thing to try to relocate some critters but this guy will probably be back eating your trees if you don't permanently dispatch with him.

My main pest this year is the citrus leaf miners. They are awful!

Are not those Katydids the insects that sing at night in the trees to remind you that summer is almost over? I would give a tree of mine over to them if they are!

Laura, I have had the same damage mostly caused my grasshoppers right about this time of the year! If it is starting now, then I would assume grasshoppers since earwigs are out all summer and should of caused damage weeks ago like they did to one of mine placed near the ground.

Laura, good luck with them...Yikes(

Mike, the insects you are thinking of are cicadas. They are singing around my parts these days. They are fine and do no damage.

Cicadas lay eggs on the soil and the worms are the one doing big damage on root systems. Yup, I like to hear them too but not near my veggie garden

So, a little off topic, but I visited a local produce stand today and found a basket of oranges covered in barely visible off white insects with webs between the oranges. I didn't notice the 1000's of them till I picked one up - looked exactly like spider mites. Needless to say, I ran straight inside to change and wash before I checked on my trees Lol. It was disgusting!

Yuck! Yes, I would have been scrubbing myself also. Were the oranges any good?

Yuk is right!

Hey Laura, here is some very interesting stuff on the Katydids that I had no idea about! They are not like Cicada and sing by night! They are those bugs that croak from the tree tops all night long as soon as the sun sets.

Cicada sings or screeches by day on hot afternoons!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tettigoniidae

I'm thinking if they are active at night growing, and a lot like grasshoppers..Humm

As a general note, I think it's a good idea to examine our plants at night if there are unknown pests eating them and no sign of the pest. I think katydids eat at night and I also found another pest at night that I didn't expect. One year I noticed something was eating my rose buds before they had time to flower and also eating the leaves. I couldn't find anything on the roses though. I finally went out at night and there were adult June bugs all over the roses.

Um, maybe my cicadas are different? They are incredibly loud, almost painful if you are right next to them. Plus so creepy to see them. Interestingly, I had to leave a bed I was working on when a cicada-killer showed up with her meal and wanted to bury it right were I was working.

I have found it easiest to spot the legs or striped antennae of the katydids on the citrus, as the green body blends with the leaves.