Okay, so I'm a little obsessive. Having found out that the beetle wasn't the main problem, I set out into the garden with a flashlight and spray bottle of insecticidal soap. I've been all over the hibiscus & brugs during the day, and haven't found anything. But tonight, I found this ugly sucker (literally)...
To be honest, he's the second one I found. The first one I took out my frustrations and squashed into goo.
The first one was on my Tarentella, whose buds are huge, and this second one was a much smaller bud, but here's pics of the damage to them. The buds just drop off at a touch, in fact in the first pic, you can see that when I went to knock the guy off, he took the bud with him.
But these are definitely they guys boring those round holes into the buds.
The soap didn't have any immediate effect, but I'll spray it more widely and see what happens.
This message was edited Aug 3, 2006 10:35 PM
oooh Tess--
I'm gone get my flash light right now...... I had a boring bug of some sort on my confederate/cotton rose hibiscus... nest thing I know.... that WHOLE branch died....GRRR... my Dad seemed to think it was some sort of "boll sweevil"... he tell me might plant looks alot like the cotton plants he used to pick from when he was a kid... over your direction in Church Point, La... do you know where that is? lemme go get that light... be right back...
ok... no sign of that creature... my treatment must have worked... I "fertilized" with that Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub systemic fertilizer/insecticide about a week ago.... I figured I'd give it a try... I had trouble with aphids real bad last year and that stuff did the trick... but this new thing with the holes in the buds had me thrown for a loop... now we know the culprit... I guess with those hurricanes last year we're seeing strange creatures on the attack THIS year... UGH.... so frustrating... try that Bayer stuff... I bought it at Lowe's.... kinda pricey, but worth EVERY penny... aphids suck....
I'm totally willing to go the chemical route if need be at this point.
I tried to be soooo good and 'green' this year- even bought ladybugs to release to get the aphids which have been awful here, too...and let me tell you how my 14 year old laaaugghed at that one. "Mom, you pay Orkin every month to spray the house, and you just BOUGHT more bugs?!"
But this caterpillar (I assume) is different from the ones we usually have here, which are long gone, and fuzzy/spiky to boot. I've got the one from the pic in a bag and I'll ask my local nursery about it tomorrow.
And yep, I know where Church Point is...that's the start of real Cajun country! :)
HA!!! 14 year olds are so wise... lemme know what the nursery says... yep, those "fools" in Church Point... I'm afraid to say I have relatives there....and as if that's not enough, my Mama was from Eunice... so... what do I do? ... and you know their Mardi Gras is so COUNTRY.... I laugh every time we go... it's good CLEAN fun tho...will you be able to sleep soundly after finding that "big betaille"... HA!!!
I bet it is going to be a pretty butterfly. Too bad it is eating your buds!! I bet Donna will know what it is.
You can use BT to kill cats, and it won't hurt you!
It was going to be a beautiful Hawkmoth ;-( You can move them to other plants as they eat many kinds. Butterflies are host specific. But butterflies also feed on nectar from the Hibiscus blooms so if you use poision you will kill them to
BT=Bayer Treatment?
Bacillus Thuringiensis, a biological insecticide. My brain is on vacation at the moment and I can't think of a band name for the stuff.
ROFL...sorry, I'm still pre-coffee this morning, and a little loopy maybe, but...
Here I was, all "CSI"ed out...had the perp locked up, all ready to take down to the nursery authorities this morning for the death sentence to be passed on all his little co-conspirators...and...lol...he ate his way out of the bag, stopping only long enough to poop!
ROTFLOL I guess he showed you. I haven't laughed like this in a while.
It is not funny he is eating your plants but it is awful funny he would actually eat the plastic and leave you a message of poo on you. And to top it off that poo is actually from your flower.
When push comes to shove on my cannas I use ortho systemic. It says for Roses and has insecticide and fertilizer. It lasts 6 weeks and I think the bayer says 2 weeks.I usually only have to use 1 time. I don't use unless necessary.
Something is eating my brugs I need to do something but I will try other stuff first.
My hibiscus are in front of my garage door. I guess me coming and going is enough to keep the bugs off. I just hang my picture around inside and no mice in there. LOL ROTHFLOL.
Sorry Tess hopefully no offense taken. Can't believe it ate plastic.
Blessings,
Sandy ^8^
lol...of course no offense taken...it's too ridiculous for words! And of course, I do wonder where he's gotten off to...prob'ly munching on my wires or some other essential thing around here...lol...
My brugs look like swiss cheese too. I wonder if it could be the same guy doing it. Tomorrow morning I'll go to the nursery and find out what they have to say...I decided not to run around like crazy this morning since my little convict escaped and I didn't have anything to show them.
This is a fun thread.
I've had lots of new bugs on my Hibiscus this season, too. (Mild Winter and wet Spring)
Tess, you are not empty handed. You have the picture (darn good one, too). Try posting it on the Garden Talk or Butterflies and Hummers forums. You'll get an answer over night.
Andy P
