AusBonsai

One of my Chinese elms has been missing a lot of leaves recently, A bunch of them look like this:
Are caterpillars doing this? How do I deal with them?

Thanks

elm leaf beetle?

no idea wrote:elm leaf beetle?

You might be right. I'll have a look.

I had a very close look, and look what I found (excuse my bad photography)

Little Kev
Big Kev
Steve
Cocoon?
And Mr Mealy Bug (RIP)

I removed them all, I got the hose and sprayed water under all of the leaves, hoping to dislodge anyone I missed.

Looks like you may have 2 pests. Caterpillars will eat a section out of the leaf leaving nothing behind. The parts where the leaf looks like the inside has been eaten is a leaf miner. A systemic insecticide should get the leaf miner, but you will have to check the bottle to see if it does caterpillars as well.

at least the caterpillars look healthy

no idea wrote:at least the caterpillars look healthy

they were...

At least you don't have a rat problem. They tend to take off entire branches. I found out the hard way when I found some branches from my wisteria sitting on the bench.
And so, the war began....

I thought I was having problems with caterpillars having the skeletal leaves. Good to find out the cause so I can treat it.

Sorry to quickly hijack your thread mate but I found this big boy dead near one of my affected trees. Is this an elm leaf Beatle?

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nah their about 6-8mm long, yellowish thingy's

that one is an African black beetle i think

Don't take No idea's name at face value. He does know stuff. Elm leaf beetle is quite small. There are lots of black beetles that look similar so it could be one that does no harm. On the other hand Some of the beetles that have babies that are curl grubs also look like that so keep an eye on the potting mix or maybe try a preventative systemic to make sure it has not left unwelcome guests in your pots.

The first picture looks very much like Elm Leaf beetle damage. The grubs skeletonise the leaves and they do like Chinese elms. It can be hard to see them because they drop off and hide when something large comes near. A systemic will get any that chew or suck on the plants if you are worried about the damage.
Systemics should also kill caterpillars. Picking them off is far more environmentally friendly though and won't kill any friendly bugs that are on the plant. Just keep an eye out for any further damage that will indicate that you've missed one or more.

I have a few Elms myself but haven't encountered this issue just yet. I thought i'd check google so i know what to look our for, heres what i found - Elm Leaf Beatle at work