Something is eating one of my plants. The damaged leaves look like a piece of filigree or lace. The the bug or whatever ate everything but the veining. what is this? Will the plant recover? how to treat?
thanks for your help
I have no pic, but need help pls
Voss - that's happening to my morning glory's. I'm curious as well.
I googled and it could be spider mites or lace bugs. doesn't look fatal, wonder if the rains brought this on.
what to do
It could also be snails. They love morning glories and petunias and apparently my Black and Blue Salvias are ambrosia to snails. With all the rain we've had, I have a bumper crop of them even after putting our snail bait. I kept trying to figure out what the problem was because when I looked, I couldn't see any bugs. Then I was up and out earlier than usual one morning and saw hundreds of them on the leaves.
I vote snails also. I've taken to pulling them off and stomping them when I go out early to get the paper. )I've also gone out at night and stalked them with a flashlight). Someone wrote that rolly pollys and snails don't like caffeine, so I spread Starbucks grounds all around front beds. 'Spotted a snail curled up around a chunk of grounds, munching away! I've always had few tiny ones....but now I have the "escargot" sized....and plenty of 'em. I'm going to watch this thread for suggestions.
I think I may have found a solution to our snail problems that's environmentally friendly! This was really interesting, now if we can just figure out how to import them.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19031330/displaymode/1107/s/2/framenumber/5/
Crowellli, I'll take two of those, pls. J/K, really, I was J/K
Slugs are not it. I have a very close and personal relationship w/ snails, and I admit they have the upper hand in the relationship. Slugs are one of my soapboxes, I have given up on fighting them and resort to praying that my tender yummy plants grow fast and toughen up so slugs won't devour them. Other than that, slugs rule in my garden.
Are they perfect round bites? I have perfect round bites on my roses.
short, that's something else. I will tell you later, can't get it out of my brain.
I vote snails.
I answered this earlier this afternoon, but must have not hit send.....duh...
I vote.....round holes=bees.......
Hmmm...I have seen a few bees around. I've had the round holes+ on my roses before....of course before DG and before being a more informed gardener, I used Imunox and low and behold no more round bites. lol I kinda want to stay away from the chemicals this time though.
Think of slugs as snails who have lost their shells. Because they don't have an exoskeleton, they can get into small spaces to hide. I have even found them under the pot in the drainage holes. Caterpillars and grasshoppers also made roundish holes and they are out in force this year again.
This message was edited Jun 6, 2007 1:55 PM
OK, I have pics now
Who on earth is this voracious eater? Hubby is pointing his pen at it . That is the best pic I could take.
My poor Fireman's Cap. Look at it! I sprayed Sevin, not knowing what else to do.
Oh no!!!! That's horrible!
My GM and I got ours at the same time. Immediately she started experiencing a worm on it. Dusted it with Sevin and it took care of the problem. Well, maybe I should ask again. Also, she's almost completely blind so I can't say for certain that what she saw was a worm. She just saw that something was eating it.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I know where to get more. LOL.
Actually, I think there's hope as I have brand new leaves at the base. But that dang worm or whatever ate this plant in 48 hrs flat. Surely there were more, but I only saw one.
I've had A tomato horn worm (caterpillar) eat its way through a Brugmansia plant almost overnight. One day I spotted a few slightly chewed leaves. The next day all but a few old leaves were gone.
I had read that they liked daturas so when I foun a big ole' hornworm on my FAVORITE tomato plant I moved him out to the datura. I just didn't have the heart to smush the guy. He must have moved on somewhere else cause I didn't lose a single leaf. I'd be heartbroken if it was my brug.
I thought I was going to lose it, but it put out new growth. The bare spots eventually filled in. I don't really have too many problems with caterpillars. It's the grasshoppers that give me fits. They are harder to deal with.
I am not sure, but that could be a bag worm, they are out doing their thing right now.
I have some Elderberry plants that they completely defoliated, but they do come back.
Josephine.
That's a caterpillar. A not good caterpillar, and I destroy them. I hand pick the ones I can find and give them a nice soapy bath, after which they are no longer hungry, but very clean. Then I spray the plant with Bt, which harms only those bad caterpillars, and nothing else - not even the birds that eat them.
BTW, spider mites and lace bugs suck the juice out of plants. They don't leave holes. Beetles and caterpillars (and slugs and snails) leave holes. Or veins. Or nothing at all.....
We had a Marguerite sweet potato vine one day, it was gone the next. Nothing but a few stems. Tuesday. If I knew who did it....
This message was edited Jun 7, 2007 11:57 PM
Oh - and for shortstuff: The leafcutter bee cuts smooth round or oval leaf fragments and uses them to line each underground brood cell that she fills with nectar and pollen. When the cell is ready, a single egg is sealed inside. The larva pupates (matures) in the chamber and emerges in the spring. The hole in the leaf is much larger than an ordinary caterpillar would make and is very smooth as if a miniature cookie cutter was used. The bee can chew off a leaf fragment in less then a minute with its sharp jaws. The leafcutter bee is considered to be a beneficial insect. And rose leaves seem to be their favorite.
Here is a picture of some of the leaves at first. Now, almost all the roses have holes and the leaves look like swiss cheese really. I'll tell you what, the buds are still blooming so it doesn't bother me that much. lol I did go ahead and spray with soapy water yesterday just to see if that does something.
These are my dwarf dahlias and their holes. These I think are snails and slugs right? I know you guys will know better than me!
Jeeps Voss something is sucking on your plants. Snails dont do damage like that. You need to go down to the Home Depot and look thru the Ortho book. I got one here let me see what I can come up with.
The first is definitely leaf cutter bees. The dahlia - I don't know. It looks like a lot more is going on there than slugs and/or snails. Have you ever tried SluGGo or EscarGo? They are made of iron phosphate and break down to actually feed the plant. But slugs and snails are attracted to it, and I understand become terminally constipated. I use it around the hostas and it works! And it isn't poisonous to other animals (dogs and wildlife) like the one made with Metaldehyde.
Damage I've encountered by snails is usually small holes in the leaves, with a slime trail...
shortstuff - Have you looked under the leaves for indications of spider mites? The discoloration looks like that kind of damage. The chewed holes and edges could be caterpillars, the holes could be snails...Look closely and see what you see.
CJ, thanks for the excellent, excellent information. After I read your postings I was able to move forward with my research and found something that seems pretty close to what is eating my ornamental tree: the forest tent caterpillar. If you scroll down to Fig 6 you can see a pic of a heavily defoliated small maple tree. That is how my poor little Fireman's Cap tree looks like and that is pretty much like the caterpillar I saw (couldn't get a good enough closeup)
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidls/ftc/tentcat.htm
Doesn't appear to be fatal and Bt is a good way to treat. CJ, you get at A+ today.
I agree, thanks CJ, that is excellent advice. I will have to look more closely to the plant. It is a little hard to look under because of the bushiness, but I will certainly try. Can ants cause that kind of damage too? There is a small ant pile by my pink dahlia. I will have to get something to treat it. I did spread quite a bit of sluggo about a month ago and I saw less snails. I had snails in my hydrangea blooms but they weren't even eating the flowers. I guess they were just hiding. So, the next day I went out and got the Sluggo since it said it was pet friendly. i didn't even know it fed the plants, thats an added plus.
shortstuff - Just look on the underside of some of the discolored leaves. You don't have to lay on the ground. LOL And check for webbing. When plants are heavily infested with spider mites you will see webbing. Remember - they are tiny critters.
If you are seeing ants on the dahlias, you might look for aphids. The ants herd aphids, like humans herd cattle. Is there any black sooty mold on the leaves? That indicates a sucking insect, and aphids are sucking insects. (Along with scale, mealybugs, white fly...)
You are both very welcome. I'm glad I could help.