I have a young orange tree in my yard in southern California. It had a rough winter (lost every leaf) but it's coming back now. Today I found this cluster of eggs on one of the leaves:
The eggs are tan in color and pretty small, maybe 0.5 mm in diameter. There are several hundred in an irregular glob held together by fine webs. Thicker webs are in place nearby holding the leaf in a protective curve.
A few leaves over I found this guy:
A little mantis about 2 cm long. Too small to have laid these eggs but maybe related? But I think it's the wrong time of year, and mantis eggs would be in a capsule not just webbed up.
The usual pests we get on our citrus trees are snails, aphids, spider mites, and (moth) caterpillars.
I think these are too big and clustered for aphids or spider mites. And I don't think snails lay them on leaves.
Some kind of moth eggs maybe? But those usually seem to be flat on the leaf in orderly little rows, not globbed together like this.
What kind of eggs are these and what should I do about them?
If no one knows, Plan B is to cut the leaf and put it in a jar and see what hatches.
