A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 cestrum nocturnum pests

I have planted outdoors a night blooming jasmine (cestrum nocturnum), and I have been battling a pest that quickly eats away new growth and leaves. The first time it happened, the plant was almost literally stripped in a matter of days while we were on vacation. Since then I have sprayed the plant with the highly toxic chemical Orthene in order to keep the pest in control.

Does anyone know what this pest could be and if there is another less toxic control I can use?

Thanks for your help.

Actually Orthene is not all that toxic. I bet there are all sorts of things below your kitchen sink which are more toxic then that. I seriously doubt there is anything that stinks as bad as it though!

I am not sure what type of bug is targeting your plant, knowing that would help give you an answer of what would be effective. Can you give a discription or a picture?

If it's the same thing that was eating mine...it's some species of caterpillar. I control it with Sevin Dust. Dust the plants at the first sign of nibbling. I don't know about the toxicity of it-but it does the trick.

From the amount of damage I would guess some sort of catapillar is eating those new leaves. I bet the Orthene will stop that. I am a big fan of Orthenex, especially for my roses. It does stink, but is very effective. I sure am glad that Doc said it was not too toxic as I thought it might be as well. I guess the smell makes it seem as though it is very toxic. Pretty toxic to those pests though...