29-07-2003, 05:02 PM
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What is this sunflower pest? Bingo!
From: (Beecrofter)
Date: Tue, Jul 29, 2003 10:31 AM
Message-id:
You can catch quite a few of the adults with the pans of water.
Milky spore helps with grubs other than Japanese beetles but takes a
little while to get rolling.
Wide spectrum pesticides will kill everything that eats them so they
are best avoided.
Aside from the ones I knocked off myself, there weren't any others in the water
pans I situated around the sunflower plants. (However, there were dead
spiders, unfortunately.....) It's possible that my initial leaf checking
before I put the pans down derailed them for the night. BUT: the good news is
that the damage last night is much less than the previous two or three nights.
Perhaps there aren't that many feeding and even the absence of a couple will
make a difference. (Trying to remain optimistic.....) It's also possible that
the soap spray I applied yesterday to some of the sunflower plants kept those
plants relatively safe...?
Although there seems to be similar damage (too minor to notice otherwise) to
other plants in my garden, nothing has taken the beating that the sunflowers
have. I wonder if sunflower is a trap crop in this yard. I've grown
sunflowers every year of the five I'm been here and this is the first time
they've been noticeably attacked, though. They're extremely late this year,
first from the weather setback, and then from rabbits having a nosh and making
reseeding necessary. (Seems I should take the hint and give in to nature's
whims this year....)
I'll begin milky spore application as soon as feasible.
Many thanks again, B...
Best,
Tyra
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