question???

what could POSSIBLY be drilling holes in my Confederate Rose hibiscus/malva blooms... I bought the plant about 2 months ago and it has been thriving in a large pot..... I did give it a dose of Bayer Advanced systemic insecticide about a month ago to prevent aphids..... went out today to check and water.... there were little holes drilled into about 5 buds... strange.... I dissected the bud and found NOTHING inside... I guess the little rascal got what he wanted and moved on.... last year I fought aphids... grrrrr..... have y'all heard of this?...

I've never had that problem...until last week, that is, with my new Tarantella. Strange holes bored into the large buds, maybe 1/4 inch across, perfectly round, and maybe a 1/4 deep. Is that similar to what you've seen?

I've been watching the thing like a hawk, and the only thing out of the ordinary I've seen is a caterpillar, which should be out of season here. It was perched on a bud, and I let it stay there awhile to see what it would look like underneath. When I knocked the bugger down, there was no hole under him, so I'm not sure if he's not the bad guy here, or whether he just didn't have enough time to have at it.

Hope someone has more info...

I have a book on pests, and the only one it lists that chews on Hibiscus blossoms is Fuller Rose Beetle. It says it feeds at night and hides during the day, which could explain why you haven't seen it. This is based just on what the book says, not on personal experience, I'm sure there are other things that can chew blossoms too but this maybe is the most common one.

Tess... caterpillar huh? hmmmm... haven't seen any - but that doesn't mean they aren't there... what do ya think I can do to kill the beast?? Is there some kind of spray? The plant is in a 16 or 18" pot and is has fairly dense foliage... do you think this is some critter that blew in with our 2 hurricanes last year?? I did have 2 big blooms open today without damage... so I'm crossing my fingers that she didn't like the flavor and has left the scene..

ecrane... a beetle? what does that bug look like? I've noticed some big ugly brownish-black beetle type bug mating on my passion flower...but they're too busy to drill holes in those buds... My Dad calls them big stink bugs... but they look prehistoric... I wonder if that's the beetle you're talkin' about?/

It's just a normal beetlish looking beetle...here's a pic I googled (never actually seen one myself, like I said I was just going off my Pests of Landscape Trees & Shrubs book)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EDISImagePage?imageID=533172253&dlNumber=HS130&tag=FIGURE%208&credits=
Website says they're about 1/3" long, so not overly huge. I'm guessing the big stink bugs are probably something else. It looks very reddish in this pic but I think it's just the way the pic was taken, some of the other google images show it being a lighter tan color.

hmmmm... he's ugly... I just came in from outside... 1 flower today... so I re-treated with Bayer Advanced systemic insecticide... I didn't see any of those on the plant... but it's still daylight here.. do they live in the dirt?? and THEN come out at nite??

I LOVE this site... y'all are so helpful.... thanks so much