Once again I am being plagued with an unseen voracious leaf-nibbler in my garden... last year (the first year I really had a garden here) this unseen pest decimated the leaves of tomato, cucumber, eggplant (it's favorite), datura, zucchini, and to a lesser degree the hollyhocks, four-o'clocks and perhaps others that I didn't care so much about to notice. This is the start of it. It will progress upwards over the course of the summer to end in complete loss of leaf tissue, leaving veins only and of course, the corpse of the host. I like lace... but not in my garden. I am in zone 7b in north-central Virginia, and have never been able to spot whatever is doing this damage. I am attempting to create a pesticide-free garden, this being the 3rd year (2nd of significant plantings), however... whatever this is is back again and ... I may resort to chemicals. Anyone have any ideas what is doing this...? I haven't found eggs (other than ladybug), and am baffled. The Japanese beetles have not arrived yet... they go for the blackberries down by the street first anyway...
Reminds me of this recent thread, but your damage isn't on Viburnums... http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=26642&highlight=viburnum
Could be flea beetles, I suppose... I've never seen one in real life, just pictures - and it looks as though I should be able to spot an infestation - and I've not. Nighttime forays into the garden have yielded no suspicious mystery pests .. perhaps I'm not looking hard enough?
Looks more like deterioration of the the tissue, you can see weak spots in other areas of the leaf where the next holes will soon be. Those holes may just have developed there due to some sort of stress on the plant or a possible plant disease. Holes in the leaves do not always mean insects. Jim.
