Larva that makes a pleat in eggplant leaf as nest?

gorbelly · July 5, 2016

I will try to get pictures tomorrow when the light is better.

While inspecting some brown spots on my Aswad eggplants, I noticed that, on the underside of the leaf, some kind of larva (couldn't see well in the fading light, but it was a small black or dark grey caterpillar-like creature about 2mm in length), sometimes in groups of 2 or 3) had pleated the leaf and sealed the edges to make a pocket for itself to live in. The pleated area is a 1/2 inch to 1 inch long and about 1/2 inch wide when I pull it apart to "unpleat" it. I found several such pockets over 3 plants. There doesn't seem to be any webbing, as with tent caterpillars. It's literally as though the pleats were cemented at the edges to form the pockets.

Normally, I'm able to find the information I need on pests, but I had a hard time finding language to describe it that would get a hit in Google. The closest I found was the Eggplant Leafroller, but these are much smaller and don't roll the whole leaf, just pleats a small portion of it.

Is it just a younger stage of the larva? The leaves affected are not the youngest leaves, as in all the articles I pulled up on the leafroller, but large, mature leaves.

Just making sure it's not a beneficial bug that will do minimal damage to the eggplants before I go out tomorrow and pick them off.

Worth1 · July 5, 2016

Look up pictures of spider nest on leaf and see what you can find.

Worth

gorbelly · July 5, 2016

Thx, Worth. It's definitely not a spider nest, though. It's not a webbed tunnel or anything. It's as though someone pinched part of the leaf and glued the pinched part shut. With a little black caterpillar or wormlike larva inside.

Worth1 · July 5, 2016

Might be lost tent caterpillars.

Worth

brownrexx · July 7, 2016

I am having trouble with my eggplants this year also. I had been finding serrated edges on the leaves but never saw anything eating them. I did see and smash a few small slug like creatures but they were so small that I could not identify them.

Well now I know the problem. It is Colorado Potato Beetles. I found some orange egg clusters under a few leaves and saw a couple of adults. The small slug like creatures are actually CPB larvae and are greyish in color unlike the ones on my tomatoes which are orange. They must adjust their color depending on the color of the leaves like chameleons.

gorbelly · August 3, 2016

Finally identified my problem. It was tomato pinworm. They started on my eggplants but quickly moved to my tomato plants and are causing a bit of a ruckus there. I sprayed some plants with spinosad, and it seemed to help. I forgot to spray some dwarf tomatoes in containers on the other side of the yard, and those plants got pretty chewed up.

July 5, 2016	#1
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Larva that makes a pleat in eggplant leaf as nest? I will try to get pictures tomorrow when the light is better. While inspecting some brown spots on my Aswad eggplants, I noticed that, on the underside of the leaf, some kind of larva (couldn't see well in the fading light, but it was a small black or dark grey caterpillar-like creature about 2mm in length), sometimes in groups of 2 or 3) had pleated the leaf and sealed the edges to make a pocket for itself to live in. The pleated area is a 1/2 inch to 1 inch long and about 1/2 inch wide when I pull it apart to "unpleat" it. I found several such pockets over 3 plants. There doesn't seem to be any webbing, as with tent caterpillars. It's literally as though the pleats were cemented at the edges to form the pockets. Normally, I'm able to find the information I need on pests, but I had a hard time finding language to describe it that would get a hit in Google. The closest I found was the Eggplant Leafroller, but these are much smaller and don't roll the whole leaf, just pleats a small portion of it. Is it just a younger stage of the larva? The leaves affected are not the youngest leaves, as in all the articles I pulled up on the leafroller, but large, mature leaves. Just making sure it's not a beneficial bug that will do minimal damage to the eggplants before I go out tomorrow and pick them off.

July 5, 2016	#2
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Look up pictures of spider nest on leaf and see what you can find. Worth

July 7, 2016	#5
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	I am having trouble with my eggplants this year also. I had been finding serrated edges on the leaves but never saw anything eating them. I did see and smash a few small slug like creatures but they were so small that I could not identify them. Well now I know the problem. It is Colorado Potato Beetles. I found some orange egg clusters under a few leaves and saw a couple of adults. The small slug like creatures are actually CPB larvae and are greyish in color unlike the ones on my tomatoes which are orange. They must adjust their color depending on the color of the leaves like chameleons.

August 3, 2016	#6
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Finally identified my problem. It was tomato pinworm. They started on my eggplants but quickly moved to my tomato plants and are causing a bit of a ruckus there. I sprayed some plants with spinosad, and it seemed to help. I forgot to spray some dwarf tomatoes in containers on the other side of the yard, and those plants got pretty chewed up.