Kelliel633
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Joined: Sun May 05, 2019 10:30 am
Location: Lake Charles, Louisiana, Zone 8

What is eating my camellia leaves?

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My camellias have always been beautiful but this year I have some type of wood looking insect eating holes in the leaves. I noticed the leaves have a white scale so went to nursery and was told the insect is a predator who eats the scale and they gave me oil spray to use. Seemed to help but now I am finding same insect on climbing roses and hibiscus! Help!

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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Did you find out what they are? Are you holding 3 of the “wood looking insects” in this photo?

It occurred to me that maybe these are Bagworms — they are caterpillars that build a hiding place out of sticks, bark, bits of lichen and leaves glued together with silk. They come out and nibble, then go back and sleep in the papoose and rebuild them as they grow. These look pretty small — by the time they are full-size, Bagworm cocoons can be 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches long depending on materials used.



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