Raychis

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What is eating holes in my plant leaves?

Almost nothing that eats leaves is on the plant when you look, so the damage has to identify the culprit. The shape of the hole, where on the leaf it sits, and what has been left behind will do it. Work down the list in order.

Go out after dark with a torch

Most leaf damage in a British garden is done between dusk and dawn, and ten minutes at eleven at night answers more questions than a week of looking in daylight. Slugs, snails, vine weevil adults and many caterpillars are all out and feeding then, in plain view, on the plant you have been puzzling over.

Work down the list

  1. Slugs and snails

    What you would see
    Ragged holes with no straight edges, often started at the leaf margin, on soft low growth. Seedlings and hostas taken to the stalks overnight.
    The check
    Look for slime trails on the soil, the pot and the stems in the morning light. Nothing else leaves a silver track.
    Slugs and snails

  2. Caterpillars

    What you would see
    Holes through the middle of the blade or the whole leaf gone, with dry pellets of frass caught in the plant below the damage.
    The check
    Turn the leaves over and look along the midribs. Then count the fleshy legs behind the front three pairs. Five pairs or fewer is a moth or butterfly caterpillar.
    Caterpillars

  3. Sawfly larvae

    What you would see
    A row of grubs feeding shoulder to shoulder along a leaf edge, and a gooseberry, rose or aquilegia stripped in a fortnight.
    The check
    Count the legs again. Six or more pairs of fleshy prolegs means a sawfly, and it means the caterpillar treatments will not touch it.
    Sawflies

  4. Vine weevil adults

    What you would see
    Small clean notches bitten out of the leaf margin, each about the size of a match head, leaving the rest of the leaf whole.
    The check
    Look at rhododendron, euonymus, bergenia and anything in a container. The notching is cosmetic and the grubs eating the roots below are what matters.
    Vine weevil

  5. Box tree caterpillar

    What you would see
    Box leaves eaten to a papery skeleton, fine white webbing binding the shoots, and bare brown patches spreading inside the hedge.
    The check
    Part the foliage and look at the centre of the plant. Damage on box while everything around it is untouched is this and nothing else.
    Box tree caterpillar

  6. Lily beetle

    What you would see
    Holes through lily and fritillary leaves, buds and flowers, with wet black blobs stuck to the undersides.
    The check
    A bright scarlet beetle sitting openly on the leaf confirms it. Reach for it and it drops onto its black back and disappears.
    Scarlet lily beetle

  7. Something has mined inside the leaf

    What you would see
    A pale squiggle or a brown blotch where the leaf looks eaten but both surfaces are still intact over the top of it.
    The check
    Hold the leaf up to the light. A hollow chamber with a dark thread of droppings inside is a mine rather than a hole.
    Leaf miners

  8. A disease that has dropped its dead tissue out

    What you would see
    Small round holes with brown or grey rims, evenly scattered, on a plant nothing has visibly chewed.
    The check
    Look at the edge of the hole. A shot hole from a leaf spot has a neat dead rim where the tissue died before it fell out. A chewed edge is ragged and green.

  9. Birds

    What you would see
    Whole leaves and buds stripped from brassicas or fruit bushes in winter, or new growth pecked out in spring.
    The check
    Look for droppings and footprints rather than frass, and for damage that appeared in daylight while you were out. Netting is the answer, fitted before the damage rather than after.

Still not sure which one it is? Photograph the leaf and compare it against the full library.

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