A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems HELP! SOMETHING IS EATING IRIS LEAVES AND PANSIES

Hi all, I don't know who sent me such a nice birthday wish but that was very sweet of them. Thank you it means a lot.

Now to my problem. For my birthday I had my family come and rototill for our veggie garden and expanding our flower garden. Very cool, couldn't get a nicer gift.

But my problem now is--we have iris's coming up. I live in Vancouver, WA, zone 5 , I think. It is very cold here right now as the weather is playing tricks on us. But our problem is that the leaves on the iris coming up have huge holes in them like something is eating them but in circles. Also we planted pansies in the rock garden and they look like they are also being eaten. We just don't know what to get to counteract this as we don't even know what is eating them.

Does anyone have an idea? Could you please help us? could you tell us what to use to get rid of whatever these are?

Thanking you in advance.

I know there is some kind of caterpiller or something like that leave perfect circles in leave? is that what it is? Im sure you could use something like a sevin concentrate for plants veggies etc to spray on them... they sell it a home depot just be sure to read the lable... I use it all the time it works great!

Thanks so much I will have my husband look for it next trip to H.D. which will be tomorrow. It won't damage the flowers or buds?

To me, it sounds like it could be slug damage. I don't use chemicals, so I fight the slugs by hand to slime combat. I sprinkle a tiny bit of salt on some, cut some in half, and some plants I sprinkle crushed egg shells around it. Also , walmart and other stores (HD, I'm sure) sell a natural slug control which is diatomaceous earth which is like crushed up bones and it kills the slugs by impaling them as they crawl over it. You have to reapply after rains.

Another great way of taking care of slugs is beer. Take a shallow dish like a pie plate, or even a Frisbee, and set it into the soil so the lip is just about even with the ground, near your plants. Then just pour a can of beer into it. This is a great way of getting rid of that really cheap stuff that your friend brought over to your home last summer, and it has been sitting around ever since. Since beer is basically made up of everything that slugs like, they are attracted to it like bugs to a light! They fall in and die with little smiles on the slug faces. Once the weather heats up you may need to change the beer once a week or so, just to keep it fresh. But honestly it is about the best way to take care of the little critters.

You know, Mike, I've done the beer routine, but for me it just seemed like it attracted more and more slugs. I think the word got out in the neighborhood that there was a party in the pie tin and they all came crawling. It's funny how they came like that, usually I crawl out of the bar, not into it.

You can ask local restaurants, diner, schools, cafeteria, etc. to save you some. They crack 'em by the case.

I had the same holes on my roses and one day I caught the culprit. I observed a bee and it sat on the leaf and began to cut a hole in it and the took the leaf cutting and flew away with it. I was told they are called Leaf cutter bees. I didn't really know what to do about it because I was told the bees were protected because their population was declining.

Leaf Cutter Bees are not a native species, they were introduced to this country from Europe. At 1st farmers thought that they would be good pollinators, but the idea backfired, and they became feral. Not all bees are protected, and the "bee decline" is still up in the air, as to whats causing it and if it is really a problem or not. But that would be a different subject all together. I would not have any problem treating the plants if I had them causing damage myself.

This may not be your problem since it's so cold there but wanted to share this just in case or for someone else that may have the problem.

I planted some bush-type Morning Glories from seed this year instead of the regular climbing ones. Have never grown these before. In the last week I noticed all the leaves had little holes in them....bunches of them!!! It looked like not a leaf had been spared. I was horror-struck. Upon examination I discovered about a dozen stink bugs. (Don't know their regular name. We just always call them stink bugs.) Never have I seen that many stink bugs in one place! And I think they must have taken offense at my perusal because the stench suddenly rose up from that little bed.

I had purchased a product at Wal-Mart called "Garden Safe Fungicide" which is actually 3 products in one. It's a fungicide, insectide, and miticide. It's suppose to be safe enough to use right up to harvest day and is good for everything that grows whether veggie, flower, etc.. So I sprayed that on them. It seems to have done the trick. Sevin dust would probably work, too. I had some of that but I just knee-jerked and grab the spray bottle.

Do the leaves look like this? You can see the bugs just down the stem from the flower and another one just under the next leaf. But if it was stink bugs, you would have probably seen them.

P. S. about the stink bugs. The upside is that because they seem to LOVE :ding: the bush Morning Glories they're not bothering anything else. I may plant these again next year in a spot way off in a corner somewhere just to keep the stink bugs occupied.

I just checked the bush Morning Glories again and spotted 2 stink bugs so the Garden Safe stuff I used didn't work...at least not permanently. This time I hit 'em with 5% Sevin dust. I saw one fly off. Good riddance!! I hope it kills the rest of the nasty little buggars.

Man! Thes Iris leaves and Pansies are DELI......Oh! Hi, Bucky! You're home unxpectedly!

Plant Doc what would you treat the leaf cutter bees with....