What are these plants and what is eating them!

littleme96

Those of you who "know" me from the Veg thread will know that I am a complete newby to the world of gardening and need all the help I can get! We recently moved into a rented house and there are these two plants are on our front lawn that are not looking very well... Can anyone help me by telling me:

What they are?
What is likely to be eating them? (There are lots of ladybirds on them, is it likely to be them?)
And how do I deal with it!

Thanks!



And this one:

tanith

They both look like different types of laurel, one being varigated... not sure whats eating them but lots of ladybirds usually mean aphids or blackfly.. I don't know if they eat laurel though..

peter_the_piper

Can't be sure what's eating them but the second one is probably eleagnus ebbingii. Likely to be some caterpiller or possibly vine weevil (bug that is and not the larvae).

laurel7172

Agree that they both look like laurel.

The ladybirds are probably eating what's eating the leaves.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Keep the ladybirds - they'll be good for the entire garden over the course of the summer!

peter_the_piper

Normal ladybirds are carnivorous and are unlikely to attack leaves (new varieties coming into the country do but are still rare) A systemic insecticide should do the trick if you want to stop the nibblers.

chrisaj

Earwigs tend to leave round holes when they've had a munch

Davesnave

Both shrubs (and peter is right about the eleagnus) would probably benefit most from a feed with Growmore and hoeing/weeding around their bases + some watering if it stays dry. Regardless, they are tough and unlikely to keel over and die.

This is a money saving forum, so think carefully about spending too much on your landlord's plants!

littleme96

Thanks everyone - have no problem with the ladybirds at all, it's just that the plants look rather unsightly with holes in the majority of leaves! I guess that an insecticide may be the way to go, but on the other hand I don't want to destroy the ladybird's food or even harm the ladybirds themselves. Hmmm...

Davesnave - There aren't that many plants that are in the garden luckily (just the small front lawn really), so hopefully won't be spending too much on sorting their plants. All of the plants that we are buying/growing ourselves are in pots so we can easily move them if we leave!

gardenroute

Would need some more photos of the top one for an ID. The bottom one with the yellow blotches on the leaves is an eleagnus; couldn't be definite on the species but peter the piper is probably right.
A systemic insecticide would kill all the ladybirds as well. Why not leave them to clear up the pests for you? There are clearly eating something. Check around the youngest tips of the plants for aphids. Aphids can also spread diseases and viruses from plant to plant which may be adding to younr problem. A true MSE fan would let the ladybirds do the pest control for free.
The photos seem to have disappeared but I noticed dark blotches on the leaves surrounded by a lighter coloured ring. This is almost certainly a fungal attack.
It would seem that there is a variety of problems here. One of these could be a cold winter, has it only happened this year? If this is the case I would cut out the worst of the damage and let the sun and the plant do the rest.
If a plant is under attack or diseased it often points to a cultural problem, i.e. the conditions the plant is growing in. Do not hoe around the base of the plant, this will only damage the feeder roots of the plant and break up the soil exposing weed seeds. The best thing to do would be to put a mulch down around the base of each plant(garden/mushroom/multi compost) to give it nutrients and to retain moisture in the summer months. Any grass around the base of ANY plant should be cleared to reduce competition -it's amazing how much healthier a plant looks a few weeks after removing grass around it and mulching. If weeds are a problem lay newspaper down on the soil and mulch on top of that.

Davesnave

littleme96 wrote: »

Davesnave - All of the plants that we are buying/growing ourselves are in pots so we can easily move them if we leave!

Been there! Moved 5 x 3.5 tonne van loads last year, after renting till we bought again (but these were mostly not stored in our rented garden.) A planned move that saved literally hundreds of £££.:)