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What is eating my hydrangea?

CitygirlCitygirl Posts: 23
in Problem solving

 imageimage

Something is eating my hydrangea (bought this spring). At first I thought it was slugs and snails (we have a ton this year!) but then I noticed that it is eating both leaves and petals leaving just a lacy 'skeleton' behind.  

Separately, the pink colour didn't last long this year and it has mostly turned green and some petals have gone brown and papery, while others seem relatively healthy.  Any ideas?

Posts

  • Mark56Mark56 Posts: 1,653

    Could be caterpillars. I found one on my rose yesterday and it looked a lot like this.

  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150

    Caterpillars?  Check the underside of the leaves.

  • CitygirlCitygirl Posts: 23

    Thanks for the ideas. I've been checking underside of leaves all week and cannot see a single bug which is what is throwing me. Will check again in the morning. 

  • CitygirlCitygirl Posts: 23

    So I checked overnight and again first thing this morning.  Found 3 slugs munching away at leaves last night but this didn't surprise me as there has been quite a lot of leaf damage that looks like slug and snail holes.  I still cannot explain the skeleton petals and found nothing on underside of leaves again. 

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016

    I had the same problem and showed the damage to the experts at our local nursery.  They put it down to caterpillars and recommended one of the systemic insecticides.  I used it once and no more damage so I guess they were right.image

  • IamweedyIamweedy Posts: 1,364

    http://triblive.com/lifestyles/jessicawalliser/8311523-74/leaf-caterpillar-garden This is an american site.

    That link gives some useful information  about it's lifecycle. 

    I have just seen this as I began to think the damage to my Hydrangea,  particularly  Annabelle did not look like slug or snail damage .

    They looked like the pictures given . I will get onto it tomorrow .

    Thanks again GW forum.

    Last edited: 02 June 2017 19:51:16




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