here's a badly eaten up brug, I can't find the little bugger doing the troulbe, I have several brugs like this. I bought that garden spray judy told me about. it's working on the spider mites, but I still can't get rid of the snails.
And the leaves on this dr. suess, what's going on with it, I see no pests on it.
Kathy_Ann,
Diatomaceous Earth works for slugs and snails. You'll have to reapply it every 2-3 weeks or so. You can get it in the pool supply department of Lowe's or Home Depot, at a very reasonable rate. Also works for other insects crawling insects, i.e. ants.
Coffee grounds - spread them around on the ground, they penetrate the slimmy substance on the snails and slugs therefore kill them. Spray coffee on any you see, they will be dead in about 5 minutes, disolves the slimmy stuff also. Ask the local cafe where all the country coffee drinkers go if you can stop by to collect their coffee grounds.
On the 2nd pictures I would bet it's some kind of insect larve, but I'm no expert.
Judy
On the second plant, if it were mine I would remove the deformed leaves because the larve is probably in the leaf tissue and then I would spray the plant with the Raid or Liquid Sevin.
Maybe some one will come along and give a second opinion.
Judy
Thanks judy, I still have some DE in the tack room, will have to get it out, put it on the ground right? in the pots?
kathy
If you haven't seen any critters, just treat everything as if you have. DE in the soil in the pot in case there are slugs living in it would be what I'd do. I don't know about the deformed leaves, but my best guess would be that they got some bug bites as they were getting ready to open, maybe. Did you know you can mix DE with water and use it as a spray also? Just keep shaking the container as you spray. It makes it go a lot farther.
Just my 2 cent observation.....
I see you have mulch all around the plants. The most perfect place for slugs to hide under during the day. All nice and moist and cool....
Gita
I'm not expert, but that looks like it could be caterpillars too. Will the DE control caterpillars?
This message was edited May 1, 2005 7:15 PM
I'd use something with BT in it for cats. Mosquito dunks or something like that and spray the foliage. An online search will find something that will work, I'm sure.
I'd use something with BT in it for cats. Mosquito dunks or something like that and spray the foliage. An online search will find something
Brugie I'm not understanding this cats?
Actually there's no mulch on the greenhouse floor, just ground. grass has all died off, and there are an occasional clipping I've just thrown on the floor instead of outside. I have a 50 pound bag of DE in the tack room, I think I have enough to throw all over the place in there LOL.
Cats = worms, caterpillars.
Your second pic. looks a bit to me like Thrip damage. Imidocloprid works well
Kathy,
Last fall I did a DE rain dance to Old Time Rock 'N Roll. "Take those old records off the shelf"......tossed that stuff (DE) everywhere.
You need to powder everything down just like you would a baby's bottom. I powdered because I could tell when I had it covered real good. I used rubber gloves because it will dry out your hands and I covered by mouth and nose with a scarf. Brugie's suggestion of mixing it with water would keep the dust down.
(I had fun.....)
I've got to get some DE. I'm fighting snails/slugs and they are winning. LOL Kathy, I have leaves that look like that also with the slim still on the leaves.
kathy, that does look like cats in the first photo. Your second photo is something I haven't seen yet and I hope you will let us know what you find out. I've had two nursery guys lecture me about the use of Hi-Yield Di-Syston and I was given the same lecture last year, yet I failed to follow their instructions. But, this year, I've started using it with all my plants and I've not had nearly as many problems. And, I use Diatomaceous Earth for slugs and other ground crawling bugs, ants, etc. I use the crumbles mosquito dunks for gnats, etc. I use Bayer dust around the bottoms of the brugs, and, Safer brand Insect Soap with Seaweed Extract for anything else. I absolutely hate using all that stuff and with few minor exceptions, petunias/roses, my brugs are the only plants I've ever had that were bothered with bugs. Shoot, in the past, if I had a buggy plant, I just didn't grow it again. I've used more stuff on my brugs in, say, the past two weeks than I've ever used on all my gardens put together. It's the only way I've figured out that I can grow them. Oh, well. Good luck!!!
thanks for all the help guys, I 'm laughing at the cat thing, duh!, cats/catapillars , ok, sometimes I have senior moments and I ain't even a senior yet LOL.
i'm gonna clip the leaves off that weird looking brug, I haven't even been to the greenhouse yet, have had somuch sewing to do. will do that s oon and hopefully I will solve the catapillar and snail problem
kathy
Last year when I came here and heard folks talking about cats. I thought at first they meant real Feline cats. And I thought ,,lordy. what are they doing to those poor kitties !
LOL that's funny, but I know wha tyou mean, I thought that too, what would cats be doing in my greenhouse LOL
I have the perfect solution for the snails/slugs, I buy a small roll of copper wire & cut off a section, then I wind it around the base of the trunk (you can also go around the pot but it uses alot of wire) & the snails cannot cross it. The copper reacts with their slime & it burns them. Just make sure when you wrap the wire around that you go a couple times around, and DO NOT twist the wire together. You just want a couple of loose circles, so as the trunk expands, the wire spreads easily. I have been doing this a couple of years now & it really does work.
Pudgy, I've never heard the copper wire thing and I have a HUGE coil of copper wire that I got from my folks' place yesterday and didn't know what in the world I was going to do with it until I read your post. I could grow several thousand, or more brugs and still not run outta copper wire, I had to use my dolly to pick it up...thanks for the hint!!!
Lucky gal, Sherry. Isn't copper pretty expensive anymore?
Gosh, Brugie, I don't know if copper wire is expensive - this wire is beautiful and I'm going to cover some of my hooks with pretty stones and stuff and string them to the copper wire - I found costume jewelry that's going to work great, I hope...
I feel like a pauper with just one Brug. Had to laugh about the cat's. I thought it meant real felines, too, and I am a grandma! I just blame it on being new here and not yet in tune with the shortcuts.
I agree about the mulch at the top being a great hiding place for slugs. We've heard of the copper wire barrier, excellent for a brug and impractical and too expensive for large hosta collections. They never bother my hosta under the Colorado Spruces with all the dropped needles surrounding them - guess it hurts when they try to crawl through it: too bad. Where do all of you nice folks keep your brugs in winter? I had three but they hit the indoor porch ceiling!
HI Pirl, welcome to the brug forum, it's a great place. I keep my brugs in the greenhouse for the winter, but I'm thinking there won't be room for them all this winter, so I'll have to store someof them inside the garage, they'll go dormant for sure, but won't die, it never gets below freezing in there.
kathy
Sherry,
that certainly works out well for you! lol
I cannot stress enough that you keep an eye on the wire. I neglected to check mine the first time & the brug trunk grew and the wire dug in & damaged it. Fortunately it healed ok without any lasting effects, but it is still something I keep an eye on now. I am getting ready to do the copper wire this morning on some pots they keep climbing into, and I am going to attempt to make my own copper wire butterflies to attach to the end where I twist the wires together. Wonder if I am creative enough to pull it off...LOL
Donna
Hi Pirl. Your name sounds so familiar. Maybe I've welcomed you in another forum, but if not, consider this my welcome to you. You will enjoy your time her, I'm sure.
Brugie - thanks for the welcome. I'm brand new, having just paid for the subscription, but I was on DG for info on companies for awhile now. Oh yes - I am enjoying every bit of this - hard to wean myself from it.
Last year someone mentioned using crushed oyster shell as a means of keeping critters at bay.It has worked well, is quite inexpensive, attractive and best of all is safe around Tinkerbelle (the nosey puppy).
yep, you have to watch about putting stuff around the stems and such on those brugs, I have those tree labels on my stems of all the brugs, and I had one digging into the branch, it had outgrown the tag so fast, so I went and loosened them all up, I have about 3 labels on each brug so they don't get lost LOL
I'm with MaryinLa and Brugie about the catapillar....I found that last year when there were big chunks eaten out of the leaves, I could find a hornworm close by. Anyhow I sure hope you find out whats eating them pretty leaves. Looks like they're having a field day!
Julie
Have you tried BT or Hot Pepper Wax Spray?
I thought Hot Pepper Wax was a group - oooops, you meant a spray??? What the heck is it and what does it do??
Could the holes in the leaves be grasshoppers?
Are their any bumps, like blisters, on the backs of the leaves?...
Carol
Well, these are big chunks missing, but I haven't found any hornworms, I have found slime on the leaves though, signs of snails, and lifting the pots and those suckers are under the pots, so I'm loaded with snails for sure.
no lumps on the back of the leaves either,
All i have to do is lift a pot off the shelf and there's a snail on it. Iknow the problem now is snails. hope the de will fix it.
You could also lift up the pots/boards/anything and sprinkle salt on them. I like the part when they start to turn to mush!!!
Carol
Hot Pepper wax spray goes on and looks milky and then the leaves look normal again. It's a barrier to insects. Wish I could hyperlink but despite the coaching of two of you very nice DG people I can't master it...yet. Look it up on the web so you can read all about it.
http://www.hotpepperwax.com/
Is that what you are looking for?
that won't burn the leaves or anything like that will it? I can buy it at walmart they have a line of organic pesticides and such over there.
kathy
Has anyone ordered the Hot Pepper Wax animal repellant??
I'd check the web and maybe email the company if your questions aren't answered by their site. On a Sunday morning radio show, Ralph Snodsmith's Garden Hotline, so many people call in to say they used it with great success.
