I'll bet a navel orange that grasshoppers and/or katydids are the guilty bugs. Solution? Can't help ya. I've got them and hand pick them when I see them. Yeah, I squish em'!

~Derek..If you dont see it in day light, look at night with a flashlight...Dale

Derek, did you ever rid those earwigs? Last wk while looking over citrus, I moved a pot..at least 50 earwigs were runniing everywhere..those bugs are disgusting. I wonder if they eat leaves..what do u think? Toni

Toni: I had actually forgotten about the earwigs until I read your post. I haven't seen any out there since I mentioned it long long ago. Thank goodness too, because, like you said, they're DISGUSTING!

I've got some pictures... I don't think they'll be much help, but I'll post them anyway.

Scott K: Was that a tree that you were offering if you were wrong, or some fruits? Lol, I'll go and start eating the leaves off of the trees myself if it means that grasshoppers are not the pests and I can get something delicious out of it!!

Anyways, here's the shots:

{{gwi:615686}}
{{gwi:615689}}

Thanks much for the responses thus far :)

~Derek

Derek, it could be a number of things eating your plant, but the top pic where the leaf if chewed? was done w/precision..It almost looks like it was cut w/scissors..Though the bottom pic, from that angle, looks like something nibbling, animal, nibbled.
Are you citrus kept atop something like a table, or are they on the ground? Toni

The second photo really cinched it for me. I killed a katydid in the act of munching a leaf yesterday. Same semi-circular shapes out of the leaves. I hope that you don't have anymore damage. If you find otherwise let us know. (I meant a fruit BTW!!) Scott

Scott_K ..What is a katydid? Are you joking!!..Dale

Looks like grasshopper damage to me. We get "Lubbers" that make injuries like that to our citrus. Your plants look very, very healthy and the missing leaf sections shouldn't hurt them at all.

Sure is nice to see citrus leaves that are not deformed by leafminers!

Lisa

GCMastiffs ..katydid, Lubbers.. I have no idea, as to what you are saying... LOL. Are you folks kidding, Your kidding right?? No Bull O.K.!! We have a Lab. sometimes we call him Lubber lips..Dale

Lubbers are huge grasshoppers with insatiable appetites. They are hard to kill, a brick works okay, they slide right out of pruning shears unscathed-due to their hard shell.

But even normal sized grasshoppers could easily do the damage in the photos.

Dale, I think my dogs might have your Lab beat in the "lips" department(G).

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Lubber info

Derek, I don't know about Lubbers, but we do have katydid's in our areas. I can't recall the other name they go by, but katydid is most popular.
I don't know what either eat, but I'm assuming plants.

I finally placed an Alocasia outside thinking it'd do better..leaves were in perfect condition. I walked outside last wk, and a da** squirrel was munching on its leaf..I hissed like a cat and chased it up the tree. That furry rodent nibbled on the leaf so don't omit the furry rodent family..Oh and then there are rabbits..Toni

You have to experience Lubber's first hand, these things are HUGE. They look like something from prehistoric times. My lawn mower does a good job on them though.

If katydid, I win the bet. If katydidn't, it must be some other 'lubber!. No bull, Dale! They'll munch em' down to nubs if you let em'! A plague of locusts, I'm tellin' ya.

I'll keep an eye out for more missing leaf sections. Right now the damage seems pretty limited, which I'm thankful for. Toni, to answer your question, the trees are sitting out on the back deck (not atop a table or anything, just on the stuff you walk on).

Thanks again for the quick answers everyone!

~Derek

Lisa..Good Post..Laaz can you send me a dead one! I dont think I want them here alive..Dale

Looks like some form of grasshopper damage to me as well - lubbers, katydids, or other species.

I'm having a terrible time with them myself this year and have resorted to handpicking them. They're really bad in my potted citrus on the plant bench. I'd have thought insect eating birds would find them easy prey but apparently not.

Lisa,

The leafminers are making me crazy this year too.

.....Alan.

ATHagan can you send me some of those lubbers, katydids,dead of course are they the same,Im interested in this will pay shipping E-Mail me Not joking ...Dale

You a entomologist Dale?

Dale are you kidding ? What are you going to do with a giant dead grasshopper ?

Glue it to the top of the car. Go into the pest control biz?

Hey Guys yes Im kidding! Its just that I never heard of them before an thought you were all joking
Scott I liked your last post. Those things must be huge. Very interesting post..Take care all!..Dale

Dale:
This is how BIG a Katydid is:

{{gwi:615690}}
I'd say half as small than a cricket.

Benny

Thanks Benny. We dont have them here!. Toni do you have any down there in Ill.? Your only about a 6-7 hour drive South from me!. Benny do you have lubbers. Very nice photo..Dale

Don't know what lubbers are. Sorry
Benny

A lubber picture (G).

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:615684}}

Lisa, you're gonna need a bigger brick. Maybe a wall of them to hide behind. Benny I've got some that are that size. The ones I hate are solid green and two inches long. Three times bigger than a cricket! A whole leaf can be devoured in an eight hour work day!

Scott:
I know what you mean. We have those also here. And very wild. It will fly so fast even before you get near.

An Eastern lubber grasshopper
{{gwi:615691}}

ATHagan can you send me some of those lubbers, katydids,dead of course are they the same,Im interested in this will pay shipping E-Mail me Not joking ...Dale

I ruthlessly assasinate every lubber I can find so I'm afraid I don't have any to send you. My grasshopper problem is brought on by smaller and more numerous species.

The Eastern Lubber pictured above is the one I was talking about. The immature form is all black with a sporty orange or yellow racing stripe down the side. Very noticeable. The mature form pictured above can run to three, sometimes nearly four inches long. Not many of them, but at that size one can eat what a half dozen or more small hoppers eat.

The smaller hoppers that are a problem right now are the green, green/brown, brown little guys. Last time I mowed the yard they looked like confetting flying away. Don't know what it is about this year that they are so bad.

.....Alan.

Alan. 3-4 inches long!!!Those suckers are HUGE, I dont think I ever seen a bug that big. Although many people call our mosquitos air planes..
I had some good powder a couple of years ago it was mixed with water than sprayed, didnt hurt the plants, If I can find it or remember what it was I'll post it here..Dale

When they get that big nothing in the natural world that I know of will mess with them. As a boy I once tossed one in to Lake Washington outside of Melbourne (FL) to see if a bass would hit it. It started swimming towards the other side of the lake and finally disappeared from sight in the distance. Whether this is because they taste bad or they're simply too bad to fool with I don't know. Many a Florida gardener destroy the things on sight. Once they're full grown they're quite easy to see.

Our smaller hoppers make excellent fish bait.

.....Alan.