What's eating my Linden?

Hello. I planted this little guy about four weeks ago. Now he's being eaten by something. I can't see anything on the tree by way of bugs or fungus. Here's two photos of the leaves. Can anyone help me save this guy from being eaten down to nothing?

Just because you didn't see anything doesn't mean it's not there. Look for a green caterpillar or two. These things can be very good at camouflage.

Might be a leafcutter bee.

Resin

Hmm...you learn something every day. I wasn't aware such creature existed! Thanks Resin :)

Aha! Thanks. I'll get some cheesecloth. Like Sequoiadendron, didn't know there were such things. Nature's variety (irritating and otherwise) never ends.

I'd be prepared to put up with the small amount of damage they do, as they are also important pollinators for a lot of flowers.

Resin

Definitely leaf cutter bees. I had a rose they loved. The damage is purely cosmetic. They use the sections they cut out to build their nests.

If you zoom in to the top center of this picture, you will see that they did a lot of cutting to a small number of leaves. It doesn't really harm the plant, it's temporary, and they won't sting you!

And the chomps they take out are so pretty! Little circles!

Thanks guys. This is a small, new sapling. They've cut parts of every leaf, and one or two leaves (not in photo) are just about reduced to stems. I think I'm gonna close the cafeteria with some cheesecloth until the tree gets bigger.

Yah, I'd probably protect it for this year too. Check out this video, the bees are really quick about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw3iAZNysrU

That's different! I wonder why they seem to love it so. It absolutely makes sense for you to stop the feasting. Otherwise you won't have a sapling, much less a tree!

We crossposted. That's actually pretty scary. Was it the only tree in town?

A zillion years ago I lived for a year in Hells Kitchen (in Manhattan, NYC, where West Side Story was set). I never saw any tree at all there. Weeds in the cracks of decaying sidewalks was about all. I think it became upscale, and someone planted a tree. I find it amazing there were any bees too.

Wow, where do they take the leaves after they've cut them off?

They build their nests with them.

Interesting...thanks for the learning!

Careful about putting a cloth over it - that might exclude the bees, but it will also exclude solar energy, perhaps making the tree grow more slowly than it would from losing a bit of leaf area to leafcutter bees. And a cloth could also act as a hideaway for other pests like aphids, which will now be protected from their natural predators and multiply rapidly . . . ;-)

Resin