HELP!! pest cutting flowering stems

Hi. I am new to this group and tried doing a search, but could not find anything to match my problem. I am in East Central Indiana & have a great little patch of purple coneflowers in front of my home. For the last couple of years, several of my flowers have gotten cut off about 2 to 3 inches below the almost opened flower. I have not been able to see any critters other than Japanese Beetles, and this does not match the damage that I have researched that they do.

The big problem is that my mother-in-law has admired my coneflowers and so we dug some up (at the worst time...mid-June) to put in her flowerbed. Well, now she not only have those coneflowers being cut of at the stem, but also some flowering cabbage and some petunias! And of course it is probably at the fault of my "gift"!!! Can anyone tell me what may be causing this, IF I can get rid of it, and if so, HOW??!! She wants to dig up and destroy all of the plants we moved (several!!) but I told her it probably won't help since whatever it is has obviously moved about 30 yards to her petunias.

By the way, my batch of coneflowers only have about 3 stems cut this year (out of several hundred) and look great. I suppose the stress that the moved plants were under may have made them more susceptible??

I hope someone can help me out--Thanks for reading!! Julie

Reply to
Julie
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Julie Hi. I am new to this group and tried doing a search, but coul

not find anything to match my problem. I am in East Central Indiana have a great little patch of purple coneflowers in front of my home. For the last couple of years, several of my flowers have gotten cut off about 2 to 3 inches below the almost opened flower. I have not been able to see any critters other than Japanese Beetles, and this doe not match the damage that I have researched that they do.

The big problem is that my mother-in-law has admired my coneflower and so we dug some up (at the worst time...mid-June) to put in her flowerbed. Well, now she not only have those coneflowers being cut of at the stem, but also some flowering cabbage and some petunias! An of course it is probably at the fault of my "gift"!!! Can anyone tell me what may be causing this, IF I can get rid of it, and if so, HOW??!! She wants to dig up and destroy all of the plants we moved (several!!) but I told her it probably won't help since whatever it is has obviously moved about 30 yards to her petunias.

By the way, my batch of coneflowers only have about 3 stems cut this year (out of several hundred) and look great. I suppose the stress that the moved plants were under may have made them more susceptible??

I hope someone can help me out--Thanks for reading!! Julie

hi julie. i dont know what kind of damage u are talking about in you coneflowers other than having some stems taken off and the damage don to your mil place. what i would do is take a flashlight and go out at night and see if can find any critters or bugs having lunch in that way u might be abl to find the pest that is chewing things up. otherwise keep a reall close watch off and on during the day and early evening and see if can find anything even a little remote from what u normally have i your garden. if u can post a pic that might also be a help to us. cyaaaa sockiescat

-- sockiescat

Reply to
sockiescat

Do you have deer or squirrels in your area? If it's deer eating them, the cut off stem will be ragged. If it's squirrels, the stems are usually clean cut. Good luck! Suzy O, Zone 5, SE Wisconsin.

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Plant Info

Thanks for the 2 replies. I don't think I described my problem very well, but I have found the culprit. It is a little black weevil of some kind. I didn't think they would cut the stem--actually, it is more like girdling the stem I have discovered after spying on the little buggers. They seem to girdle it for some reason, then the flower falls over but is still barely attached to the plant. They then go up to the actual flower and bury their faces in it, sucking nectar I assume. All you can see is their dark metallic little "butts" sticking up in the air. I hand picked several today, sprayed some directly with insecticide.

Now I wonder if they are laying eggs in my stems and if I should burn the whole patch in the fall??? I'll do some research...

thanks again!

Reply to
Julie

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