Friday, November 18, 2011

What could be eating my petunias?

I don't see any bugs, but the blossoms are getting eaten. In the morning I'll check them %26amp; see little holes in the blossoms or some edges eaten away. Then by the afternoon, just a little bit of the blossom is usually left at the stalk. The leaves %26amp; stalks are left alone. And the blossoms themselves don't have any discoloration so it wouldn't seem to be a fungus, etc. And this is only happenning in my potted petunias- I have hanging Trailing Petunias hanging right above the potted ones %26amp; those are fine. I have petunias every year %26amp; have never had this problem!

What could be eating my petunias?
at our nursery in upper SC we had this problem for a while at the end of the summer and our culprit was a small caterpillar. ours were in hanging baskets and it baffled me for quite some time I think they ate and then fell onto the underlying plants, by the time I was finding then at first they were in the center of our gerber daisies...pests. Finally I found the tiniest little wormy guy on the petunia plants and found that this had to be our culprit eating at the buds. If you are looking for slugs be sure to look for glistening slime trails covered in morning dew. LOL
Reply:here in s. georgia we have palmetto bugs.aka big *** roaches.they sometimes eat my flowers and plants.
Reply:It may be ants - check for ant colony or slugs (but these would normally eat leavs as well). Get some ant powder and sprinkle it around.
Reply:I have those pesky little ants that seem to want to eat pretty much everything even the azaleas... they go after everything except for the marigolds... as much as I dislike having to do it I spray a bug killer... I have to take the cat's in for a few days and am afraid it will kill the butterflies... so I try to spray it very low and not hit the flowers...





Good luck... enjoy your flowers!
Reply:Go out a couple of times at night with a flashlight... I wouldn't be surprised if you don't find the critter responsible. Out here it would be slugs...

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