What's eating my Barbados Cherry leaves, and possibly flowers, too?

[jez251]

I see this holey damage on a lot of the leaves on my Barbados Cherry and flowers. Any clues as to what type of insects does this sort of damage?



Jaime

[JeffDM]

When the leaves of some of my avocado seedlings looked like that I turned them over and found tiny (3/4") green worms.

[Coconut]

I see this holey damage on a lot of the leaves on my Barbados Cherry and flowers. Any clues as to what type of insects does this sort of damage?



Jaime

Its a night flying moth larvae that feed at night. Green, brown, black, squish them at night, better yet but out a bug zapper; zap plenty & you notice a decrease in leaves chewing.  The bad part is you also notice a lot of your fruit trees are not getting pollinated, you just need to figure the tradeoff are!  That night pollinating moth  (several types)  offspring need to feed on something to develop into its parents that will pollinate your orchard.  My HOA spray shit that kills bee, so I be lucky to see half a dozen bee in a decade, so I rely heavily on the night flying moths for pollination, go ahead and let them chew a few leaves as long as they leave fruit alone.

[jez251]

I don't really see any insects on or under the leaves, so the problem may be related to the night-flying moths or similar insects. The problem for me is that these same insects appear to also eat the flowers and/or fruitlets.

So I never really get any fruits to form on my tree anymore.

Jaime

[Coconut]

I don't really see any insects on or under the leaves, so the problem may be related to the night-flying moths or similar insects. The problem for me is that these same insects appear to also eat the flowers and/or fruitlets.

So I never really get any fruits to form on my tree anymore.

Jaime

Evolution would not promote the night flying moth larvaes to kill its food supply & kills it parents ability to feed on the flower nectars & plant ability to reproduce to keep the cycles going on for million of years. Maybe its leaves eating june bug beetles or the notorious Japanese beetles known for eating flowers, fruits leaves.  Used a Zapper when they come out at nite, their larvaes are the beetle grubs you see in sod & under tree roots & leaves debris.  These beetles common during rainy months coincide with new growth.  Electric zapper zap couple dozen during per nite during May- September for me here in S. florida. Guinea fowls are excellent if you on the farm, but here in HOA Boca, I am resort to three electric zapper for the fruiting season  when years of wet winter produce the most beetles pest for summer month.