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What is eating my plant and what can I do

Cat 3Cat 3 Posts: 107
in Problem solving
Can you please help identify what is eating my plant and what I can do about it.  Last year I was told it was some sort of beetle and that I should cut the plant back which I did, this spring the plant sprang forth with new foliage and looked pretty healthy but now following the first of rain I see that is being eaten and it looks rusty.

Can you please help with what I need to do you've been so helpful lately I appreciate whatever advice you can give.

Thank you.

Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Can you tell us what the plant is and what sort of damage it has? A picture would really help, too.  There are all sorts of nibblers out there so we need a lot more information. 
  • Cat 3Cat 3 Posts: 107
    Sorry I forgot the photo.  I'm not sure what it is.
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I think it might be Viburnum beetle.
  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    Viburnum beetle on Viburnum tinus. You will be able to find the larvae on the leaves. Could prune the plant back hard and dispose of the clippings (with larvae attached) to try to break the cycle. I believe it overwinters in the soil. A more pragmatic solution might be to dispose of the plant and grow something different.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Cutting back hard can work. I chopped mine down to sticks but never got around to digging it out. It grew back and  it's been good for a couple of years now. Fingers crossed.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ERICS MUMERICS MUM Posts: 627
    B3 said:
    Cutting back hard can work. I chopped mine down to sticks but never got around to digging it out. It grew back and  it's been good for a couple of years now. Fingers crossed.
    I did this but the beetle came back eventually.  The leaves had a nasty small too,  I don’t know if it was just coincidence.

    anyway I hacked it right back to a stump 2 years ago and it hasn’t sprouted since.  Dead as a dodo !
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    If you are not against spraying then a contact insecticide will work.  Most of us try to avoid that these days but sometimes,  just to break the cycle of destruction !!
    AB Still learning

  • AuntyRachAuntyRach Posts: 5,291
    edited May 2022
    I have a large Viburnum shrub and it suffers from the beetles - some years worse than others. I use an organic leaf spray to keep numbers down but I suspect that works best early in the season (probably sooner than now). The smell is very distinctive - foul!  My shrub is in a row of other large shrubs acting as a boundary so I am loathed to cut mine down but if it was severely attacked I may sacrifice it. 
    My garden and I live in South Wales. 
  • Rob LockwoodRob Lockwood Posts: 380
    edited May 2022
    I've got a V Opulus Compactum and may have seen the posts last year.  I thought I'd sussed it but the grubs are back in force this year.  tbh I quite enjoy picking them off in a brief potter round, but I'd rather not...
    What I DIDNT do this year was cut out the egg sacs from the wood - won't make that mistake again.  No eggs, no grubs, no (native) adults.  Jobsa (in theory :) ).
  • Cat 3Cat 3 Posts: 107
    Hi thanks all, my shrub is also part of my hedge at the front so it is not a practical solution to cut it all back. Perhaps AuntyRach could you give me the name of the organic leaf spray she usef  and then I will try and obtain it and give it a go to see the shrub and my hedge.

    Thank you.


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