What's eating my avocado?

Avocado trees are attacked by persea mites, thrips, caterpillars, and borers outdoors. In the garden, deer and rats will take fruit. The persea mite is the most destructive pest in warm regions, capable of causing severe defoliation and fruit drop if left unmanaged. Vigilant scouting and miticide rotation are the headline defenses.

Circular necrotic patches on upper leaf surface; heavy infestation causes premature leaf drop and sunburned fruit. Apply miticide (spiromesifen or abamectin) at first sign; avoid broad-spectrum insecticides that kill predatory mites.

Silvery-bronze scarring on young leaves and fruit skin; distorted shoot growth. Spinosad sprays on new flush; conserve naturally occurring predatory insects by avoiding pyrethroid use.

Leaf webbing, notched leaf margins, and surface feeding on young fruit. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or spinosad at egg hatch; hand-remove small infestations.

Gnawed or half-eaten fruit on the tree or ground; chewed bark on young branches. Tree-trunk rat guards, remove fruit promptly when ripe, reduce nearby ground cover that shelters rodents.