Last year the vine was lovely until late summer-to-fall the vine was invaded and destroyed by what I finally diagnosed as army worms in various stages of maturity from less than a half an inch to two inches which were accompanied by many holes on each leaf. I planted seeds this year along the same fence/trellis. The vine is not vigorous and looks anemic. Now, the same type of holes are present on most leaves almost over night with no caterpillars seen. The holes appear like those made by slugs, which I have seen in pictures that show the various damage evidence. I have not seen any other moonflower growers with these problems. I have sprayed with bT and Sevin and applied diatomaceaus earth. The holes are as high as 6 feet!
moonflower vine
Bt will only work on cats, not army worms or sawflies. sevin might not be getting to them enough. i was having a problem on a Heliopsis seeding recently. there are three planted in a trough. one was getting eaten more and more every day. i did the same thing you did, in addition to spinosad, with no results and i never could see anything. the other night i went out with a flashlight and sure enough, there was one army worm or something very similar, gnawing away. i plucked him off with a tongs and disposed of him.
you may have to go out at night and see if you can identify the culprit.
Yes, sounds like you have something feeding at night.
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