I haven't seen any critters, day or night. My monarda are pretty much gone. It's also eating things like 4 oclocks, strawflowers, agastache and echinacea. Not touching sedum. I've only been gardening for a few years, and this is a new problem for me. This is an old photo of my monarda that I first posted a few weeks ago. Today there's basically nothing left.
Four c'clock (I think)
Agastache
Around here this year it is the cucumber beetle and tent caterpillars.
Would they be hanging around here in Zone 5? And how would you treat for those two different pests?
Not sure if they would be, maybe some one will answer that. I don't treat for them since I don't want to kill the ladybugs, caterpillars of butterflies, and other beneficial insects. I figure they will lose the leaves come winter anyway
Unfortunately, I'm losing so many leaves that the plants are dying without even blooming. Hopefully someone has an answer.
I'm having trouble with ear-wigs here in zone 5,,,, they are awful.... no beetles, took care of those! No slugs, got rid of those too! The only thing i'm having trouble with is the ear-wigs! they told me here to use 2 tablespoons dish liquid to a gal. of water.....shake it up and spay both sides of the leaves.....
hope that helps....
jm
Earwigs -- That's it! I haven't seen them on the plants, but they're everywhere else this summer! I guess they're stealth plant eaters, and it just never occurred to me to put two and two together. I'm going out this evening when it cools off to 80 degrees to spray, spray, spray. Thank you so much!!!!
Another thing you can do to get rid of earwigs is to place a loosely crumpled piece of newspaper in an inverted container on the ground beside the plant. Since earwigs are basically nocturnal they'll be looking for shelter come sun-up and will hide in places like this. You can then carefully remove the newspaper and replace it with another. What evil retaliation you choose to impart on the offending sneaky critters is up to you. :) Good luck. And I hope you won't give up on gardening. I've been at it for over 30 years and the triumphs do outnumber the disappointments. I promise.
Grace
www.gracepete.com
After enlarging the first photo you posted I noticed a green caterpillar at the top of the picture along the stem and another just below it to the left and looking at the damage to the leaves it is consistent with caterpillar feeding. You can spray with a wide spectrum insecticide but you run the risk of killing off beneficial insects. Look carefully for the caterpillars and once you find one the others seem to be more easily identified. There may also be other insects doing damage and if that is the case spraying may be the only effective course of action.
well, i am having problems with my morning glories being eating...and they are becoming spotted and falling off. i brought it to a nursery and it turned out I had teeny tiny(so small i could barely see it without them showing me) mites. so i got a safe pesticide to take care of it today. take a sample to a nursery you trust....maybe they can examine it for you and tell you whats going on with your plants...
Oh my, you spotted a caterpiller in a photo, and neither DH or I saw it when we were right there! Old age sucks, I tell ya. I'll try again to spot them and I'm going to treat specifically for earwigs, too, since they are all over the place. Cover all my bases and hope for better luck next year. :-( Thanks everyone for the help, I promise to keep trying!
well if its eating your 4 o clocks can only be one thing Japanese beetles. which in time will kill them off. 4 o clocks are poison to a lot of the bug world and most leave it alone. never seen a cat on any of mine. would watch for those on them.
as for morning glory could be beetles also a gold beetle will eat holes in the leaves then make another and another. I hate these things. insecticidal soap works wonders even for mites.
figure out what cats are eating what and give them their own plant to eat. that way you can just move the cats to the food plant and still have great flowers too. yea i saw him in the pic too.
G'Day
I don't know if your Earwigs are the same as our pest ones but this is worth a try.
Get a shallow dish like a soup bowls and about 1/4 fill with some cheap vegetable oil. Put the bowl out where you know the Earwigs will be and put a stick or small branch from the ground to dish edge. Ours love the oil and climb the stick to get the oil and fall in and drown. The cost is minimal and of course the oil is harmless to pets (or kids).
We have a native earwig that doesn't cause much trouble but these European Earwigs just wreck plants in one night.
Photo is one of my traps from 2yrs ago (no trouble last summer).
Um ... I think I'll pass on enlarging that photo for a better view. :-D But thanks for the idea!
very coool!
Didn't know that tip, I will have to try it. You really had a problem looks like. Knowing my puppy she will find it and have earwig soup for breakfast before I can get it up. LOL! Pups eat everything. Right now she has made it her goal to erradicate everyone of those pesky white sticks in momma's garden. So I no longer know my plant names!
CrabGrass Central, we are plagued with lily beetles down in this part of the state, that I use a deer repellent sold in CT. It needs to be diluted 5 to 1, but when you do it and spray, NOTHING eats those plants. I have a few other solutions to spray, but this spray smells like oil of clove. Undiluted it is sold in a bright pink applicator plunger bottle. Concentrated, it is sor of light yellow and needs to be shaken or homogenized. Because we plant edibles, we only choose sprays that leave a bad taste on the plant. This deer stuff (I can get you the name if you want) is sold in garden centers and is made with essential oils and does not wash off the plant as readily as water souble sprays.
I see we now have a light brown beetle that I'm trying to identify (also found on my lilies).
Thanks for the info, Cathy. If you have the name of the product, it would be great.
that is to funny....exactely what I thought when I saw that you can enlarge it....earwigs....ewwww....
one thing that I tried and noticed it worked (totally by luck...) is I was adding composted manure to my new Hostas - which earwigs are hitting my existing ones & are full of holes! - but not the ones that I treated with the manure???? hmmm.....i'm hoping that I found a remedy
This message was edited Jul 4, 2010 4:25 AM
For a long, time I had problems with critters killing my houseplants. Tried a bazillion things and couldn't get rid of the problem, until I read somewhere that cinnamon tends to chase off pesky things. Worked like a magic charm. So this summer, I used it outside on plants that were having trouble ... magic charm all over again. I don't rush out and replace it when it rains either - seems to be able to stick to the soil for quite some time. Also makes the yard smell delicious.
:)
What a perfectly splendid idea!!!
