My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200
Those grasshoppers - luber grasshoppers love Dends! I forget where you are. We do see them in FL. Big suckers.
Diana
On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:33:10 -0700, Diana Kulaga wrote (in article <%iixi.11457$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews7.bellsouth.net>):
Thanks, all. Whatever it is seems to prefer large, Catt type buds, and has eaten holes in the leaves of a frangipani I keep in the GH. Mole crickets do very much the same as grasshoppers, but they're both large enough I should be able to see them. Around here (inland No. CA), we have rats from the canal, but no field mice, Kath!
Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200
I am in middle TN where the drought is severe. We just had 3 weeks of 99 to
106 F temps. If I see another one on my plants I will bring them back indoors. One of the Phal's nice new leaves has a quarter size hole chewed in it. This insect chewed right through the Den' flower stalk, leaving the flowers and buds laying there on the floor. I could have cried.
Nope. The one I caught eating the orchid was about 2' long and all bright spring green. The lubber isn't shown to be in TN.
Are you sure you do not have a rabbit with a fondness for flower stalks? Rabbits are noted for cutting off the stem and letting it fall.
On the other hand - when we got grasshoppers they came in as tiny fry and would eat the leather leaf of a full sized catt with out blinking. By that time they were big enough for Diana's descriptions. But I never saw them until they were as big as my thumb, only the damage. SuE
Huh. When I was googling it, I found references to TN. Also, the Lubber goes through color stages and it does reach 2". Oh, well. Maybe a rabbit like Sue mentions below.
Diana
>Thanks to all, especially Wendy and the Manellis, for chiming in. I stalked the critters at 11 last night, and was gratified to find and savagely destroy two slugs! Now I just hope they were the only ones; I spread metaldehyde on the GH floor around the air intake vent.
Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200
Slugs are snails -- if you squished them you just seeded the entire location and everywhere you walk. They are hermaphrodites and self fertilize. So I hope you used another method of dispatch.
SuE
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