What is eating my Camellia leaves?

[cc1002]

Hi there,

These camellia  leaves were whole when I purchased it last year. But now some of them only half left. I feel the leaves are quite hard for bugs to eat, can anyone tell me what caused this? Thanks.

. . . 

[Jason]

Oh dear @cc1002. Do you have possums in your garden? It might also help if we knew where you are based. 

Let me tag the wonderful @Noelle to see if she has thoughts on a likely culprit.  

Jason

[cc1002]

Hi Jason,

I haven’t seen any possums, but neighbors said sometimes there are possums around at night because their dog would bark. I am located in south east suburb Melbourne.

[Noelle]

Hi @cc1002 

Looks definitely like possum damage to me!  You won't see them during the day - they are nocturnal and will only come out once all the lights are out, in the dead of night.

Try putting bird netting over the plant at dusk, to protect it, or move the plant into the garage or garden shed overnight until it's a lot bigger than it is now. Make sure the netting has a mesh no greater than 5mm x 5mm.

It will produce new leaves and shoots from late winter, so don't despair.

[Jason]

Great to see that Noelle has provided some assistance @cc1002.

You might find this Best Advice article helpful as it contains suggestions from many different Bunnings Workshop community members: How do you keep possums away?

Jason

[EricL]

Hello @cc1002

Just to add to the great recommendations made, I suggest building a bamboo teepee frame over your plant before putting the bird netting over it. This will prevent putting any stress on your plant while it's trying to recover from the possum's midnight snack attack. Just join 4 bamboo sticks together put some rubber bands at the top to keep them together and spread in a teepee fashion. I've placed an image below to give you an idea of how to set it out.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[cc1002]

Thank you Noelle, I will put bird netting on it. 

[cc1002]

Thank you Ericl, I will try all these recommendations to protect the small plant. Hopefully it would grow new leaves soon.

[Dino14]

These pics exactly show the appearance of one of my camellias. However, it has other camellias immediately adjacent, even overlapping, that are not affected at all. This makes me think it is not possums eating the leaves, unless they can discriminate between different camellia species. Did you find any other reasons for the leaves being eaten?

[EricL]

Hello @Dino14 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's fabulous to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about Camelia leaves getting eaten.

Honestly, I would not put it past the possums, there is every possibility that they can tell the difference. Let me tag @cc1002 and see if we can get an update on their Camelias, perhaps they've recovered from the midnight snack attack. 

If you start seeing a pattern in how the leaves are being eaten, I suggest applying the recommendations made in the discussion to protect your plants from further attacks.

Insect eating patterns are often very organized and you can see where their chompers have bitten into the leaf, whereas a large animal will often leave large, jagged bites or tears in the leaf structure.      

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric