My newly this year planted sweet cherry tree is being devoured. It started out healthy in May with new growth but something started eating the leaves. I assumed it was Japanese beetles and covered it but the damage continued. I cannot see anything on the leaves, I even looked with a magnifying glass. I sprayed with Ortho’s orchard spray, no luck, added liquid Sevin to the mix, no improvement. Tried Neem oil, thought that was helping a little bit damage continues. The leaves are being completely skeletonized. This is only occurring on my new tree. I have 2 established trees that are not showing the same destruction. Any help will be as appreciated. Janet
A picture might help make it easier to identify what’s going on.
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That’s caterpillar damage, I think. Don’t know why you haven’t been able to find them!
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I did BT bacteria Spray. That did the trick!
In my case it was Japanese beetles on my Cherries, and the leaves were turned into a pretty lace.
I agree yours is caterpillar damage, and they were doing something like this to my plums and young apples, and caterpillars are what BT spray works best against.
BT bacteria spray is apparently safe for humans, and incredibly effective against tent caterpillars.
It’s important to spray the bottoms of the leaves.
The rain and dew wash it off the top quickly.
My uncle was a Nurseryman he told me the best thing is a Japanese beetle trap half way down the road. Because the traps attract them from miles away and kill them, but before they get caught they eat a lot.
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It certainly looks like insect/caterpillar damage but I have examined this poor tree almost daily to monitor it and have never seen anything except a couple of ants which made me suspect aphids but I scrutinize the leaves and have not seen aphids.
There were unusually few Japanese beetles here this year (hallelujah) and covering the tree in a light shroud did not slow down the damage. They are very visible and I did not see a single beetle on the tree.
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I think you uncle is a smart man. I have traps set on the back south east corner of our property, they are approximately 1/4 mile away from the fruit trees. I have yet to see a single Japanese beetle on any of our plants.
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From an insect damage standpoint, your leaves are not skeletonized, where the leaf is eaten except for any veins, even very small ones, that are left behind, resulting in a literal skeleton of a leaf.
Your damage is much coarser, such as beetle or large caterpillars or even leaf-cutter bees. Also, you have not mentioned looking for the pest after dark.
Aphids merely distort the very newest growth and do not make holes in or remove portions of leaves.
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That’s a great idea to look after dark; I haven’t, thank you! I cut the petioles off that had no leaf material left fearing they might harbored disease or eggs (although I looked closely and saw none). They truly were just a naked leaf stem. What type of pest might be a night feeder? I am appreciating all the input.
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