Whats eating my Meyer Lemon?

[Kaym]

Hi everyone! New Gardener here , I recently got a Meyer Lemon tree and it looks like it’s being eaten by something. How can I get rid of the pests and keep it healthy?

 

[Chuck]

It could be some insect but is probably a caterpillar. Spraying with a spinosad based insecticide will take care of both. There are many brands with spinosad such as Bonide Capt Jacks Dead Bug Killer and Monterrey Garden Insect Killer. Both are harmless to people and pets and can be used up until day of harvest.

 

[cpp gardener]

You might also want to bait for snails. They love citrus leaves.

 

[Anna Embry]

A few days ago I also find a kind of caterpillar(dark green but cute) on my lemon tree that looks the same as a leaf hard to find.

 

[Chilli_Choco]

Another possibility is that the leaves are being eaten by slugs, which generally feeds during nighttime. You can always check on your tree around dawn and notice if there are any. If there is, the best solution is spraying slug bait around the tree. When eaten, the bait will cause the slug to die after digestion. Try to spray only if the pest is identified.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

. You can always check on your tree around dawn and notice if there are any.

Dawn is a bit of an ask, I have caught plenty of slugs an hour after dark. I take a jar of hot water and drop them in. it is the sort of damage I might expect from slugs or snails.

Try to spray only if the pest is identified.

Now that's a really good bit of advice, you don't want to go trying to kill things that are not there, that is a waste of time and money and damages the world.

 

[Anna Embry]

Now the time to stop more damage cause by insect simply by spraying horticultural oil sprays these are effective in treating pests of lemon trees known as citrus rust mites.

The citrus rust mite is a pest that feeds on citrus fruit, leaves, and stems. These are too small to see with the naked eye, but with a magnifying glass, they can be seen as pink or yellow in color and wedge shaped.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Now the time to stop more damage cause by insect simply by spraying horticultural oil sprays these are effective in treating pests of lemon trees known as citrus rust mites.

The citrus rust mite is a pest that feeds on citrus fruit, leaves, and stems. These are too small to see with the naked eye, but with a magnifying glass, they can be seen as pink or yellow in color and wedge shaped.

I can't see a mite that needs a magnifying glass to see it being responsible for holes like that in the leaves. I might be wrong, but it looks like something bigger to eat out a hole right through the leaf, and the edges in the second picture look nibbled. I would put money on a slug or a caterpillar, and if you can't find them in the daytime slugs are the favourite for nocturnal damage.