Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Brugmansias and Cutworms....Nasty Nocturnal Pests! , 1 by xeriscape8321

xeriscape8321 wrote:
Meet the nastiest brugmansia pest you may never know about. Do you wake up in the morning to find your leaves chewed but when you examine the plant during the day there is no sign of any little green catipillars or white dusty beatle bugs, there is no slime so you figure it's not snails or slugs? You spray your garden, yet still everynight there is more devastation and it gets worse as time goes by...

Then you probably have a CUTWORM!!! If it were not for an experiance that Delisa had years ago and shared with us I would never have even thought about this critter. Cutworms are caterpillars of moths. The kicker is that the live underground during the day. So when you are searching your plant for any pests that may be responsible they are sleeping comfortably in the soil of your pot just waiting for darkness to fall and the dinner bell to ring...but who knew???

I noticed damage on my Mon Amour du Mariel getting worse every night. i would remove all the damaged leaves to find more every morning ...i searched every inch of the soil surface and the undersides of the leaves and nothing...sprayed it, put systemic granuels on it...nothing,,,more damage every day. Then I remembered what Delisa had told us about a similar experiance she had.

So, last night I set my alarm for one in the morning. Went out into the garden in my bathrobe, flip flops and a headlamp flashlight. Low and behold on the underside of the leaves was the fatest caterpillar i have seen. He was cold and had no hair on his body, but the jaws used to chomp on my plant were clearly visible. These guys can devour your plant in a short period of time...They are called CUTWORMS because one day you may wake up and find the main green stem of your plant has been cut in half as he chewed thru the juiciest part of your plant....as if your leaves weren't bad enough!

So be on the look out for repeated nocturnal damage to your leaves and stem with no other visible source for the problem. They are easy to spot but it has to be late at night. Then you can pluck them off by hand. They usually curl into a "C" position for protection.

Here are pictures of what my cutworm used to look like...........now he is a stain on my pavers