Certainly a foe - this white bug

This blooming creature - in great numbers - have eaten up the leaves of my curry plant. Murraya koenigii. This seems to infest only this plant. It can fly. It's like a tortoise - hard outside- I mean the wings are protected by the hard covering.

When I wanted to take a pic of its underside, I had to remove from its firm grip on the leaf and lo, it played dead!

It reminds me of a tortoise beetle, but the ones here in the states look quite a bit different. Try googling tortoise beetle though and see if any in you area look like what you have there.

It actually looks a lot like the tortoise beetles (my kids call them 'golden bugs') on my morning glory. We love how they change color, but man, they can do some damage.

Will try to get some shots of the damage - holes - they make!

I saw a couple white things on a potato plant yesterday, about the size of a ladybug. I didn't know what they were, but I didn't worry about it. Tonight a lot of leaves on almost all the plants, were shot full of holes.

Correlation?

Holes from the end of the leaves or at the centre? Butterfly catterpillars, to my knowledge, eats up leaves from the edges.

Well, some of both. Some eaten from the edges of the leaves, and some are holes in the middle of the leaf. I didn't see anything when I went out there tonight and looked at the leaves and the stems, but then it was after dark and all I had was a tiny disposable flashlight.

If this is the work of catterpillars, they may be on a nocturnal routine. Also, I understand that moths are nocturnal. So you won't catch them red-handed. I'm also not sure about their diet. One plant seller had told me about it when I asked him about a similar problem.

Dinu, the tortoise beetles we have make neat little angular holes all over the leaf. Not just on the edges. Neem should help; I'm going to try it out.

I haven't tried neem oil. Oh yes, neem is an age-old pesticide. It should work esp. on plants that are used for cooking.

I'm glad Dinu that I don't live in India. You have the darndest time with bugs. Though I would like to grow ginger as well as you can.

Oh yes, these are part and parcel of living in the tropical areas. Ginger is becoming a popular crop here. Many farmers are growing well with good profits. It does require a cooler climate - I reckon humidity also plays its role. In the north east part of India, ginger is abundant. Here in the plains, I am not sure it does as well as there. But for you in zone 4b, a trial would help.

This is what it does to the Murraya leaves. We never got to use the leaves for cooking!