Cut worm?

Ordinarily, cutworms cut off plants at or near their base. But this beautiful blooming iris I had was cut off at its stem about 14 inches or more above the ground, and the severed stalk was left to lie on the ground beside it. This wasn't a deer -- the cut was way too clean. Deer chew, leaving ragged edges. And there are no deer tracks around it. Deer don't normally eat bearded irises, anyway.

Could this have been a cutworm, or something else that severs stalks cleanly higher up on the plant?

Anyone have any idea what this might have been?

Anyone?

ANYONE ???

Surely, there must be SOMEONE out there who can address my question?

Was it in the front yard? Kids often snap off flowers as they walk by and just drop them.

We don't have any kids in our neighborhood who come onto our property. We live in a very isolated rural area. I don't think there are any children here, at all. I haven't seen any, and if they're around, they live too far away to do anything in our yard. There were no footprints of any kind where this occurred. Just a clean surgical-type cut on the stalk, not the kind a deer would make. They normally don't bother Bearded Irises, anyway. I'm just wondering if a cut worm would normally crawl and cut that high up on a flower stalk? I've read where they cut things off at the base of the plant. That's why I'm wondering what this was.

Hi flowermaiden,

Younger cutworms can climb up in a plant to feed on it, but at the fully developed stage they are too fat to climb, so they cut the plant down so they can feed on it. The only reason they cut a plant down is they can't crawl up in it. So I think we can eliminate cutworms as the culprit here.

This is a mysterious happening. If you could post pictures, it might help. Also, it may be significant that the affected plant is an iris, so you might try posting this mystery in the Irises forum.

We have swallows flying at high rates of speed feeding on flying insects in the evening. But as far as I know, one has not accidentally struck a plant. See if anyone in the Irises forum has a theory.

ZM

Raccoon.

I'm afraid I don't have a picture of this.

Can a raccoon bite cleanly like that? This isn't a chewed edge, at all.

Fortunately, this iris had a second bud on it that has opened up without incident, so I still get to enjoy a flower on it.

Where would I find the Iris forum?

Hi flowermaiden,

" Where would I find the Iris forum? "

This is a link to the Iris forum here on Dave's Garden.

https://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/iris/all/

ZM

Maybe rabbit? I haven't seen rabbits cutting off blooms of irises but they do a lot of eating lilies to the ground and young hydrangea stems.

https://www.ehow.com/info_8509839_animals-eat-iris-plants.html

I agree with hcmcdole. Rabbits and hares (which are different) clean cut plants and deer tear. Now and into July is prime rabbit breeding season.

Thanks, folks. Could well have been a rabbit. We have them around here. I am also wondering about a ground squirrel -- can one even reach that high? They normally chew roots, though.

Thanks for the link. I'll go over to the Iris forum and see what they have to add.

Hi flowermaiden,

" I'll go over to the Iris forum and see what they have to add. "

Click on the "Activity" column to sort the Iris Forum responses according to time. That should show that the most recent activity there was November 30, 2018. Like many of the forums here at Dave's Garden, there is a very low level of activity there. I personally find that to be very discouraging and disappointing and I find it increasingly difficult to convince myself to renew my membership here.

When Dave sold this website to a commercial interest, he went on to found another garden forum that eventually became the official forum of the National Gardening Association, and it enjoys a higher level of activity. It does not charge a fee for its use. I am active there, along with many former members of this website.

This website has several good features, but apparently the membership fee has significantly reduced the number of people who use it.

ZM

There still are some free forums, and the Gardening Watchdog feature is still free, as far as I know.

The other might be worth checking out, anyway. I've had problems with the Gardening Watchdog feature. Some of my posts there have mysteriously disappeared, while the companies' responses haven't, which causes my thread to not make sense. The missing posts still haven't been restored, and nobody seems to know what to do about it. That's the feature I use most on this site, to rate the mail-order nurseries and provide feedback about my experiences with them. I think it keeps everyone on their toes. But when some of my posts vanish, it's not helpful.

Thanks for the heads-up on the other garden forum. How do I find it?

Hi flowermaiden,

The website for the National Gardening Association is at

https://garden.org/