Who is Eating My Plants?

[Mare]

I have a peace lily, a ZZ plant and a Monstera all together in one spot in the living room. Each one has a leaf or two that look like they have been eaten right in half. It looks like an animal is eating my plants, but there are no animals in our household. It’s a mystery to us.

 

[Chuck]

If you don't have dogs or cats then that leaves mice or rats. It could be a caterpillar but to eat half of a monstera leaf it would have to be the size of a small snake and I'm sure you would see something of that size on a plant.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I would check the bottom of the pot for a slug. Sometimes they live down the side of the pot. so maybe check it out after it has been dark for a bit. If you never see the thing something that comes at night is a good bet, and a big slug can get through a lot of leaf.

 

[Mare]

Urg! Slugs and rats!! Not my favorite things. Thank you for sending this information.

I would check the bottom of the pot for a slug. Sometimes they live down the side of the pot. so maybe check it out after it has been dark for a bit. If you never see the thing something that comes at night is a good bet, and a big slug can get through a lot of leaf.

I haven’t been able to check the pots yet. We live on the 2nd floor of a modern condo complex in the city of San Francisco. We did have a mouse problem in our garage for a short time, but they never lived upstairs. I haven’t heard anything from the neighbors who usually let the entire complex know if there are any related problems. It could be that something hitchhiked in a storage box - we had to move to an old Edwardian flat for about 6 months while our condo was being remodeled, and there are two cardboard boxes, filled with paper and photos that we haven’t unpacked yet…oh boy…I dread opening them. We had taken all of our furniture, plants, etc. with us to the flat. There was an extra room where we stored our boxes; and I did hear something rustling in the kitchen walls of the place after dark. l will also look for the slug. Like I said, Urg! I hate those things. I’ve posted here pics of the eaten leaves. Each of three plants has one chomped on leaf. Does that mean I may have slugs in all three?

If you don't have dogs or cats then that leaves mice or rats. It could be a caterpillar but to eat half of a monstera leaf it would have to be the size of a small snake and I'm sure you would see something of that size on a plant.

 

[Tetters]

@zigs and I have both looked at this, and we think it does look like caterpillar damage. Zigs said that it will have eaten across one leaf, and the plant's defence mechanism will have exuded something to protect itself , to put off the attack. The culprit would then move on to the next plant to continue the feast. I wonder where the little blighter is now? I think if you want to be kind, you should buy three more plants a bit quick, so that your hungry guest will be happy If you soak the pots, Zigs reckons it will come out and show itself.

 

[Chuck]

Urg! Slugs and rats!! Not my favorite things. Thank you for sending this information. View attachment 94639View attachment 94641


View attachment 94640I haven’t been able to check the pots yet. We live on the 2nd floor of a modern condo complex in the city of San Francisco. We did have a mouse problem in our garage for a short time, but they never lived upstairs. I haven’t heard anything from the neighbors who usually let the entire complex know if there are any related problems. It could be that something hitchhiked in a storage box - we had to move to an old Edwardian flat for about 6 months while our condo was being remodeled, and there are two cardboard boxes, filled with paper and photos that we haven’t unpacked yet…oh boy…I dread opening them. We had taken all of our furniture, plants, etc. with us to the flat. There was an extra room where we stored our boxes; and I did hear something rustling in the kitchen walls of the place after dark. l will also look for the slug. Like I said, Urg! I hate those things. I’ve posted here pics of the eaten leaves. Each of three plants has one chomped on leaf. Does that mean I may have slugs in all three?View attachment 94640View attachment 94639View attachment 94640View attachment 94641

Having looked at closeups of the leaves, I can see no teeth marks. So, gotta be slugs, snail or caterpillars. Having said that the bite marks are not new, as evidenced by the brown edges. If fresh it would be green, at least for 2 or 3 days. About the easiest thing to get rid of slugs and snails is a product called Sluggo. Those are nice plants and if it were me I would get the Sluggo and I would get another product with a spinosad base such as Captian Jacks Bug Killer that will kill just about all insects and also caterpillars.

 

[Tetters]

Chuck, the elephant hawk moth caterpillar likes Monstera, they are most beautiful, you can see the moths fly in the evenings during the month of June. I had some specially introduced to my place many years ago.

Lovely!

The caterpillar also likes stinging nettles if you can some for him.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Does that mean I may have slugs in all three?

I doubt it, they can get about, though they return to a 'home'. I reckon you brought one back from your move, fresh plant is probably a nice change to damp wallpaper in the spare room

We had a red Mexican sage under our kitchen window at the last house and used to get hawk moth hovering sucking at the flowers, as you say beautiful.

 

[Tetters]

If this damage was caused by a slug, you would see a slug trail very easily. It looks like this

.... a very clear indication.

 

[Mare]

If this damage was caused by a slug, you would see a slug trail very easily. It looks like this
View attachment 94647 .... a very clear indication.

YUCK!! Haven’t seen any of that. Thank goodness because the plants are in my living room with a bunch of antiques…

 

[Mare]

I doubt it, they can get about, though they return to a 'home'. I reckon you brought one back from your move, fresh plant is probably a nice change to damp wallpaper in the spare room

We had a red Mexican sage under our kitchen window at the last house and used to get hawk moth hovering sucking at the flowers, as you say beautiful.

Slugs go home after they have traveled around doing damage? How sweet…. But I still hate those squishy things, even though that is very cute… Yuck!

 

[Mare]

Having looked at closeups of the leaves, I can see no teeth marks. So, gotta be slugs, snail or caterpillars. Having said that the bite marks are not new, as evidenced by the brown edges. If fresh it would be green, at least for 2 or 3 days. About the easiest thing to get rid of slugs and snails is a product called Sluggo. Those are nice plants and if it were me I would get the Sluggo and I would get another product with a spinosad base such as Captian Jacks Bug Killer that will kill just about all insects and also caterpillars.

Thank you for the advice. We always blamed our poor little cat, and gave her a lot of grief. But she is gone now (we didn’t get the Monstera until after she passed) and now I feel guilty. She has been gone for a year so these leaves are not her left-overs…

 

[Mare]

Chuck, the elephant hawk moth caterpillar likes Monstera, they are most beautiful, you can see the moths fly in the evenings during the month of June. I had some specially introduced to my place many years ago.
View attachment 94645 Lovely! View attachment 94646 The caterpillar also likes stinging nettles if you can some for him.

Do they visit plants kept in living rooms? I haven’t seen anything like this. That caterpillar is huge and creepy. Are those false eyes? And is the head at the other end. Normally I love caterpillars; except when they wake me up in the middle of the night, chewing at my scalp! I didn’t know what it was; my screams must have awakened the neighbors when I touched it. I threw the poor thing across the room.

 

[Mare]

@zigs and I have both looked at this, and we think it does look like caterpillar damage. Zigs said that it will have eaten across one leaf, and the plant's defence mechanism will have exuded something to protect itself , to put off the attack. The culprit would then move on to the next plant to continue the feast. I wonder where the little blighter is now? I think if you want to be kind, you should buy three more plants a bit quick, so that your hungry guest will be happy If you soak the pots, Zigs reckons it will come out and show itself.

…

 

[Mare]

Thank you everyone. This is a real mystery. And I really hate slugs; probably because, when I was a child, I picked one up thinking it was a beautiful piece of yellow ceramic. It opened it’s huge mouth and I quickly threw it away while screaming.