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help

davespreadbury26davespreadbury26 Posts: 2
in Problem solving
what is eating my photinia pink crispy..help.. many thanks DAVE

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Possibly a leaf cutter bee. They chew bits out to line a nest with.
  • davespreadbury26davespreadbury26 Posts: 2
    let me catch the buggers.thanks bones
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    They’re wonderful and fascinating creatures ... and they pollinate the fruit and veg. All they want are a few semicircles of leaf for their babies ... don’t be mean to them

    https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/bees-wasps-and-ants/patchwork-leaf-cutter-bee



    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I think it's quite an honour to be home to leaf cutters.
  • JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 1,039
    Leaf currier bees over vine weevil any day. At least the bees  just nibble the leaves and don’t kill the entire plant. 
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2019
    Orchidia said:
    I bet if we tried to help them by peeling a leaf off for them to use, they would still eat the plant to bits.
    They don’t ‘eat the plant to bits’ ... they cut a few semicircles. 
    Dont know how you’d select a suitable leaf ... you’re not a bee 🐝 😆 

    I agree with Fire ... I love to see leaf cutter bees working in my garden ... it’s like watching a David Attenborough tv programme happening in front of my eyes 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Well, they do ... willow herb is just one of the ‘weeds’ some of the leaf cutters use ... but we don’t notice it because we tend not to grow it in our gardens 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    They're amazing insects. I watched them poke the leaves into an overflow pipe once. (My leaves. My pipe 😊)
    I wonder of the slices are standard or if they vary according to the size of the hole.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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