Damage to sunflower and cherry tree leaves

[annageckos]

This year is crazy so far, first we had weeks of rain. Lots and lots of rain. Now we are having days of 90+ degree heat. On top of that deer ate most of my day lilies and cone flowers/black-eye susans and ate all the lower leaves off my new cherry tree, breaking some of the branches in the process. So I made up a hot pepper spray and that is working great to keep the deer away. But now both my cherry tree and my sunflowers leaves are being eaten. I haven't seen any caterpillars on the leaves but that is what the damage looks like. One sunflower leaves were eaten almost completely, leaving just the larger veins behind. But I can find any bugs on either plants. I did find and kill a bunch of sawfly larva on a pine sapling last week. I don't know what to do for these plants. I have BT and did spray the cherry, but that doesn't seem to have helped at all. I do not want to use chemicals, organic method would be my first choice. Anyone have any clue what could be eating my plants? The chew marks look like caterpillars, but that is all I have found so far.

 

[desertlady]

cutter bees? grasshoppers?

 

[catjac1975]

When the veins are left behind, sounds like a woodchuck to me. They only like tender and have a voracious appetite.

This year is crazy so far, first we had weeks of rain. Lots and lots of rain. Now we are having days of 90+ degree heat. On top of that deer ate most of my day lilies and cone flowers/black-eye susans and ate all the lower leaves off my new cherry tree, breaking some of the branches in the process. So I made up a hot pepper spray and that is working great to keep the deer away. But now both my cherry tree and my sunflowers leaves are being eaten. I haven't seen any caterpillars on the leaves but that is what the damage looks like. One sunflower leaves were eaten almost completely, leaving just the larger veins behind. But I can find any bugs on either plants. I did find and kill a bunch of sawfly larva on a pine sapling last week. I don't know what to do for these plants. I have BT and did spray the cherry, but that doesn't seem to have helped at all. I do not want to use chemicals, organic method would be my first choice. Anyone have any clue what could be eating my plants? The chew marks look like caterpillars, but that is all I have found so far.

 

[annageckos]

Looked up the leaf cutter bees, it doesn't look like that. I don't even know if we have them. Not grasshoppers either. And we have no groundhogs around here. Years ago we had a family, but they moved out when the cats started to go outside. We do have plenty of deer, squirrels and a family of foxes. The cherry tree is maybe 7/8 feet tall now, and the damage goes all the way to the top. Some of my sunflowers are 5/6 feet tall and have the same type of damage. It really looks like when a caterpillar chews leaves, but I don't see any caterpillars around. I am at a loss as to what it is doing this. I am more concerned about the cherry tree, I just put it in this spring and really looking forward to cherries.

 

[desertlady]

japanese beetles?

 

[so lucky]

I wonder if it is some kind of night-feeding caterpillar or beetle. You might go out at night or before dawn with a flashlight. Maybe some type of spray with an essential oil would repel the culprits. Peppermint or patchouli come to mind.

 

[catjac1975]

Cats do not deter groundhogs. Look out the window around 5 AM and see if you don't catch sight of a critter.

Looked up the leaf cutter bees, it doesn't look like that. I don't even know if we have them. Not grasshoppers either. And we have no groundhogs around here. Years ago we had a family, but they moved out when the cats started to go outside. We do have plenty of deer, squirrels and a family of foxes. The cherry tree is maybe 7/8 feet tall now, and the damage goes all the way to the top. Some of my sunflowers are 5/6 feet tall and have the same type of damage. It really looks like when a caterpillar chews leaves, but I don't see any caterpillars around. I am at a loss as to what it is doing this. I am more concerned about the cherry tree, I just put it in this spring and really looking forward to cherries.

 

[annageckos]

Cats do not deter groundhogs. Look out the window around 5 AM and see if you don't catch sight of a critter.

Looked up the leaf cutter bees, it doesn't look like that. I don't even know if we have them. Not grasshoppers either. And we have no groundhogs around here. Years ago we had a family, but they moved out when the cats started to go outside. We do have plenty of deer, squirrels and a family of foxes. The cherry tree is maybe 7/8 feet tall now, and the damage goes all the way to the top. Some of my sunflowers are 5/6 feet tall and have the same type of damage. It really looks like when a caterpillar chews leaves, but I don't see any caterpillars around. I am at a loss as to what it is doing this. I am more concerned about the cherry tree, I just put it in this spring and really looking forward to cherries.

Maybe not normally. But they did this time. There was big time issues and damage from groundhogs when we first moved in here. Neighbors had live traps out and had tried to get ride of them for years. As soon as we moved in here and let the cats out the ground hogs moved else where. We know this for a fact, there have been no groundhogs around here since. We moved into my boyfriend parents house that he had grown up in and he knows the neighbors and neighborhood. I do know we have none around here anymore, they still live in the woods a bit farther away, but they do not come into the yard. Deer and fox are common visitors though. There are zero signs of groundhogs. Besides, this damage was not caused by a rodent, it was a bug. I know what rodent chew marks look like, I have some guinea pigs and a bunch of rats as pets. And I have rehabilitated wild animals in the past, including groundhogs.

It could be beetles, I have seen a few june beetles around, haven't seen any japanese beetles around this year. Thanks so lucky.

 

[catjac1975]

BREED THOSE CATS AND SEND ME SOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cats do not deter groundhogs. Look out the window around 5 AM and see if you don't catch sight of a critter.

Looked up the leaf cutter bees, it doesn't look like that. I don't even know if we have them. Not grasshoppers either. And we have no groundhogs around here. Years ago we had a family, but they moved out when the cats started to go outside. We do have plenty of deer, squirrels and a family of foxes. The cherry tree is maybe 7/8 feet tall now, and the damage goes all the way to the top. Some of my sunflowers are 5/6 feet tall and have the same type of damage. It really looks like when a caterpillar chews leaves, but I don't see any caterpillars around. I am at a loss as to what it is doing this. I am more concerned about the cherry tree, I just put it in this spring and really looking forward to cherries.

Maybe not normally. But they did this time. There was big time issues and damage from groundhogs when we first moved in here. Neighbors had live traps out and had tried to get ride of them for years. As soon as we moved in here and let the cats out the ground hogs moved else where. We know this for a fact, there have been no groundhogs around here since. We moved into my boyfriend parents house that he had grown up in and he knows the neighbors and neighborhood. I do know we have none around here anymore, they still live in the woods a bit farther away, but they do not come into the yard. Deer and fox are common visitors though. There are zero signs of groundhogs. Besides, this damage was not caused by a rodent, it was a bug. I know what rodent chew marks look like, I have some guinea pigs and a bunch of rats as pets. And I have rehabilitated wild animals in the past, including groundhogs.

It could be beetles, I have seen a few june beetles around, haven't seen any japanese beetles around this year. Thanks so lucky.

 

[annageckos]

BREED THOSE CATS AND SEND ME SOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL. They are both fixed. I don't think they actually went after them. Though I know the one cat would have no problems doing so, he loves to pick on other animals, like the dogs. I assume it was the smell of a predator in the area. We didn't let the cats out for the first six months or so, and up to that point I had seen the groundhogs on a daily basis. There was a mother and her young plus another adult. Shortly after they started to go outside the groundhogs disappeared.