Capsid bug
A fast-moving green or brown bug, 6mm long, which feeds on shoot tips and is almost never seen doing it. What it leaves is unmistakable once the sequence is understood: it kills small patches of tissue in a leaf still folded in the bud, and as the leaf expands those patches tear into ragged holes with brown edges, so the finished leaf looks chewed and distorted while the plant never had a caterpillar on it.
Caused by: Lygocoris pabulinus and Lygus rugulipennis · also called capsid, plant bug
What brings it on
Adults and nymphs feed on the youngest growth from late spring. Damage is worst on plants next to hedges, rough grass or fruit, which is where the overwintering generation comes from.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Capsid bugs
- Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board — AHDB: Capsid bugs on ornamentals
Checked 2026-08-13
Usually seen: May, June, July, August
Preventing it
Ordered by how much difference each measure actually makes, not by how often it is repeated.
- Nothing practical, and it rarely needs anything. The damage is disfiguring rather than harmful, and a plant that keeps growing grows out of it.
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Capsid bugs — control
Checked 2026-08-13
Dealing with it once it is there
- Leave it alone on an established shrub. The insects have usually moved on by the time the torn leaves are noticed, so any treatment is applied to damage that is already finished.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Capsid bugs — control
Checked 2026-08-13
- Pinch out badly distorted shoot tips if the look bothers you. The growth behind them is unaffected and breaks cleanly.
source
Sourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board — AHDB: Capsid bugs on ornamentals
Checked 2026-08-13
What it affects
On sprays and treatments
GrowingHQ does not tell anyone what to apply, at what rate, or how often. Pesticide approvals differ by country, change without notice, and the product label is legally binding — it is also the document you are holding. What is described here is cultural and physical control, which is what a home grower can act on without a label in front of them.
Plant-specific guides
Where this is one of several causes that look alike on a particular plant, GrowingHQ publishes the differential rather than the general answer.