My licorice plant (glycyrrhiza glabra) is becoming a nursery for a type of bug. Haven't caught the bug yet but I find the leaves torn and folded with a clear hard egg laid under the tear. Does anyone have a idea of what this might be and how to treat it? Preferably organic?
Wow, that is cool! Sorry, I'm not help tho.
It is different isn't it. I am not so upset as I don't think it will kill it and I am not one of those perfectionists either. The leaves/plant doesn't have to be perfect. I assume all creatures serve a purpose, even the lowly bug. He was probably born to hatch on licorice plants. I have been handpicking the eggs and in search of the mother with no luck.
Wow!! Something is cutting up those leaves. Ants? Grasshoppers? Seen any of those around lately? What bugs have you seen around?
Donna
Not really any bugs Donna. I keep looking. Odd how it isn't eating the leaf only tearing it. I wonder if the buglet would eat the leaf when it hatches out.
i've never seen anything like this. it is a great mystery and i hope someone solves it.
It is most interesting.
I will have to try to get a good photo of the egg itself.
This message was edited Jul 16, 2006 8:34 PM
I have seen wasps tear petals of flowers and tender leaves and take the pieces away to make a nest. I have seen butterfly caterpillars - small ones - fold up my tabernaemontana leaves to protect themselves till they grow. They do it at night.
Grasshoppers tear the leaves this way. But they feed on the cut portion. It may not be a bug. If it was a bug, you'd have seen it there. Grasshoppers could be the one as they don't stay in one place for long. This is all I know.
Dinu, it is odd. Some pieces of the leaf are missing as though eaten. The light color on the leaf is actually the underside of the leaf. It is torn and folded over to protect the egg. One egg to a leaf. I am not sure how grasshoppers reproduce. The wasps in our area are many different types and most have mud or paper nests, some lay eggs in the ground. I really don't have any idea on this but it has me keeping an eye on it. I am not sure if this happened day or night either. Thanks for your thoughts... pod
