It is more than a year since I planted a lemon tree on my terrace. It is a good quality lemon and I wanted to see it from nicely. But even after one year, there not much growth. Though the plantbis still alive, I often find if with damaged leaves. I know there were bugs around but never able to trace It. But today, I found one slowly grazing on the green leaves at the bottom of the plant. It was a caterpillar, Green in colour which comoflouge itself into the Green leaves.
Caterpillars are essentially larvae of moths and butterflies, and their primary goal is to eat as much as possible to grow and develop into their next stage. They chew on leaves, creating holes of varying sizes, and in severe cases, they can completely defoliate a plant, leaving only the main veins. In my pity lemon plant case, only the throjs were visible along with the stems. Most of the leaves were already destroyed by this little intruder.
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These Caterpillars can be difficult to spot as they may hide within rolled or webbed leaves, or among dense foliage. As I said, I have been trying to trace It, but everything is fail.in my attempt. It is getting too late, as my plant was half destroyed with very few leaves left. Thanks to this leaf-eater, who casually feeding the plant leaves. Thanks to the rainy weather i manage to track it.
Once the predator is found it is sensible to get rid of it rather than letting it destroyed the remaining plant. The presence of them is very contagious as they are quick to feed on Green leaves. Removing them safely is.the best option but not before taking some closer shots. And I did it in style. I tried to remove this with the help of a little tweeks. The caterpillars has a strong grip on the leaves so it took little effort to get hold on the tweeks. The little bug get hold of teeeks strongly and started moving my fingers.
Regularly inspecting plants and removing caterpillars and bugs by hand is a good starting point, especially for the growth of the plant. I know there might be others around but for the time being, my plant is safe until I see the leaves getting back to shape again.
In good faith - Peace!!
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