Can someone identify this problem?

I found new chewed up fresh leaves today, also some older ones but they are two separate  patterns...

       

I know it can't be Slugs or Snails because I prepped the ground before placing my NewGrads there...


       

Could be Rollie Pollies, May be scales,  Look around, also you may want to check on it at night.
   

That looks like the damage I get from earwigs.
They are more bold and active at night.

It's not Scales for sure... but we do have Rollies in our yard ... I didn't know they ate leaves.

If the Rollie Pollies eat leaves then thats probably whats eating mine. I swear if I knew some way to make money off the little things I could be rich there are sooo many here this year!

they are in my compost bean , I guess they do eat leaves...

Aaron, sorry for not getting back to this discussion. I did find a Rollie Pollie eating my leaves on a cutting a few months back.

what's the best prevention against Rollies?

Water the cutting and have a spoon or tweezers ready to pull them out......Good Luck !!!

hm, I have to do something about this. I hope they don't develop the habit of chewing on the trunks of the cuttings or the branches.

It appeared to me that they move more in darkness, So maybe you want to spray a mist of water and check on them on a few minutes later.

Maybe japanese beetles? I found one on one of my leaves yesterday, he hadn't ate a hole yet so I don't know yet if they'll end up being a problem for me or not.






regards,
bill o.



...on edit, your damage seems to be mostly at the edge of the leaves, I don't think japanese beetles are so selective.

@Billy, You scare me but from what I heard and read the J Beetle hasn't arrived to Los Angeles yet. And... I don't have exotic imports in my garden.

Aaron, look under the leaves.  Check to see if there are any green, inch-long caterpillars. I had some leaves that started to show those same symptoms.  It had me all kinds of confused until I turned the leaf over and saw these...
 

These are the caterpillars of the white butterflies with single black dot on lower wings. I hate them, they have been eating my Dinosaur Kales, Rainbow Chards, Tomatoes and  Mint and Basel... have been checking on them daily...i kill them with my own hands.
Don't now if they eat Fig leaves though...

 

Yup, those are the culprits.  They'll do some damage on your fig leaves if you're not on top of them.  Clobbered my LSU Purple a couple weeks back.  I found about 4 of them just having a buffet on my tree!  She's coming around slowly though.

Nate,
I don't know about over your way in Paradise, but here in Virginia one must be careful checking under the leaves for caterpillars. There are many little wonders of nature here that can hurt you. Here's the caterpillar I fear the most. It's called a Saddleback and its' little hairs have a nasty venom. Not only will they make you suffer if you bother them, but the hairs they drop and the ones on their cocoons can make you very sorry you got out of bed that morning. Fortunately for me as an "organic as possible" grower I have my little wasp buddies to lay their eggs on these beautiful but nasty (hhhm, sounds like my X) critters. I sat and watched once as they ate a leaf on my lime tree in less time then it took me to drink a glass of ice tea. That's fast. Here's a before and after picture of my little wasp buddy's life's objective.

GOOD NIGHT, that is crazy spooky!  Kind of looks like a nudibrach or sea slug out in the ocean.  Really pretty, but harmless.  Yeah, I don't think we have anything like that out here, or at least I haven't seen anything like that yet.  We lived out in Va-Jan-Ya back in the late 90s.  The mention of iced tea just brought back some sweet memories...Man, we loved it there!  Here's a pic of a typical sea slug.

 
Photograph by Jeffrey de Guzman, My Shot

That looks dangerous. 
Glad we don't have them here...yet.

Nice picture. I have not been to Hawaii yet. Been in the other 49 but every time I try and get out that way something goes wrong or someone dies. Not that someone dying isn't something going wrong . . .
I love Virginia. I've lived in a lot of places but keep coming back here. 
Good lord it's getting late. 3:33AM.
I guess one more check on the figs I just moved out of a root riot dome into new pots and new homes outside. This is the one step where I tend to loose too many. I'll just tuck em in and let the dog have one more patrol as the bear was here 3 days ago.
Nite.

So that's something else we have in common Aaron. Sorry, don't have the expertise to make any useful suggestions. All I can note is that the 'munch pattern' differs markedly from the damage on my Gk Black, so clearly each critter seems to have its own calling-card.

Mine is almost certainly a small (as yet unidentified) flying insect. And there are no worries about venomous hairy caterpillars around here either. Time for another inspection soon tho - gotta catch that culprit in the act. If you carry out regular inspections, you should be able to do the same eventually.