What is this sunflower pest?
 

Does this sound familiar?........
Sunflower leaves (plants aren't yet blooming) are being eaten by something that
is NOT: slugs/snails, rabbits, birds, groundhogs, leaf-cutter bees. Large
irregular pieces missing from the outer margins of the leaves (some leaves are
almost gone by now). There is nothing resembling teeth marks or
chewed-off/pecked-off bits, and I don't believe it's a warm-blooded muncher at
all. The only other detail that looks a bit odd is that on a few of the leaves
I notice dime-sized dark spots that seem wet or oily.....just one per leaf on
the leaves that have them....but this could be something else entirely. This
all started a day or two ago, and the damage is progressing very fast to
defoliation, I fear. I see absolutely nothing munching the leaves during the
day.

So, does this sound like grasshopper damage? I've seen only one in my yard
this summer and normally this area is fairly free of major grasshopper
populations. But this is the wild and weird Northeast this year....

Any ideas?
Thanks and best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7

What is this sunflower pest?
 

It's possible it could be fungus. If you see dark spots on the leaves
that's a tell-tale sign.

I spray all my plants once per week, one week with Sevin insecticide,
then the next week with Ortho Garden Disease Control.

The Ortho Garden Disease Control used to be called Daconil, for some
reason they changed the name. The active ingredient is Chlorothalonil,
just make sure it contains that.

Sevin has always been Sevin. It contains Carbaryl which kills more
bugs, mainly the leave boring ones that the Ortho chemicals don't. It
also is quite harmless to most birds and mammals in small quantities,
although I'd still wear a respirator and gloves when applying a lot of
it. It *will* kill fish so if you have a pond nearby with fish in it,
cover it with something like plastic paint-dropcloth.



oway (Tyra Trevellyn) wrote:

Does this sound familiar?........
Sunflower leaves (plants aren't yet blooming) are being eaten by something that
is NOT: slugs/snails, rabbits, birds, groundhogs, leaf-cutter bees. Large
irregular pieces missing from the outer margins of the leaves (some leaves are
almost gone by now). There is nothing resembling teeth marks or
chewed-off/pecked-off bits, and I don't believe it's a warm-blooded muncher at
all. The only other detail that looks a bit odd is that on a few of the leaves
I notice dime-sized dark spots that seem wet or oily.....just one per leaf on
the leaves that have them....but this could be something else entirely. This
all started a day or two ago, and the damage is progressing very fast to
defoliation, I fear. I see absolutely nothing munching the leaves during the
day.

So, does this sound like grasshopper damage? I've seen only one in my yard
this summer and normally this area is fairly free of major grasshopper
populations. But this is the wild and weird Northeast this year....

Any ideas?
Thanks and best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7

What is this sunflower pest?
 

By the way... read my post above titled "Wind just destroyed months of
time and effort" regarding what happened to my sunflowers. :(


oway (Tyra Trevellyn) wrote:

Does this sound familiar?........
Sunflower leaves (plants aren't yet blooming) are being eaten by something that
is NOT: slugs/snails, rabbits, birds, groundhogs, leaf-cutter bees. Large
irregular pieces missing from the outer margins of the leaves (some leaves are
almost gone by now). There is nothing resembling teeth marks or
chewed-off/pecked-off bits, and I don't believe it's a warm-blooded muncher at
all. The only other detail that looks a bit odd is that on a few of the leaves
I notice dime-sized dark spots that seem wet or oily.....just one per leaf on
the leaves that have them....but this could be something else entirely. This
all started a day or two ago, and the damage is progressing very fast to
defoliation, I fear. I see absolutely nothing munching the leaves during the
day.

So, does this sound like grasshopper damage? I've seen only one in my yard
this summer and normally this area is fairly free of major grasshopper
populations. But this is the wild and weird Northeast this year....

Any ideas?
Thanks and best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7

What is this sunflower pest?
 

Pelvis Popcan wrote:


(Tyra Trevellyn) wrote:

Does this sound familiar?........
Sunflower leaves (plants aren't yet blooming) are being eaten by something
that
is NOT: slugs/snails, rabbits, birds, groundhogs, leaf-cutter bees. Large
irregular pieces missing from the outer margins of the leaves (some leaves
are
almost gone by now). There is nothing resembling teeth marks or
chewed-off/pecked-off bits, and I don't believe it's a warm-blooded muncher
at
all. The only other detail that looks a bit odd is that on a few of the
leaves
I notice dime-sized dark spots that seem wet or oily.....just one per leaf
on
the leaves that have them....but this could be something else entirely.
This
all started a day or two ago, and the damage is progressing very fast to
defoliation, I fear. I see absolutely nothing munching the leaves during
the
day.

So, does this sound like grasshopper damage? I've seen only one in my
yard
this summer and normally this area is fairly free of major grasshopper
populations. But this is the wild and weird Northeast this year....

Any ideas?
Thanks and best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7


It's possible it could be fungus. If you see dark spots on the leaves
that's a tell-tale sign.

I spray all my plants once per week, one week with Sevin insecticide,
then the next week with Ortho Garden Disease Control.

The Ortho Garden Disease Control used to be called Daconil, for some
reason they changed the name. The active ingredient is Chlorothalonil,
just make sure it contains that.

Sevin has always been Sevin. It contains Carbaryl which kills more
bugs, mainly the leave boring ones that the Ortho chemicals don't. It
also is quite harmless to most birds and mammals in small quantities,
although I'd still wear a respirator and gloves when applying a lot of
it. It *will* kill fish so if you have a pond nearby with fish in it,
cover it with something like plastic paint-dropcloth.



Thanks for your ideas. There may be some kind of fungus on the leaves (I
usually see signs of powdery mildew late in the season on sunflowers).
However, the real problem right now is whatever is consuming the leaves as
described. I need to identify that before I can take any measures.

(Sorry to hear about the storm damage to your plantings.)

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7

What is this sunflower pest?
 

Tyra Trevellyn wrote:
Pelvis Popcan wrote:

Thanks for your ideas. There may be some kind of fungus on the leaves (I
usually see signs of powdery mildew late in the season on sunflowers).
However, the real problem right now is whatever is consuming the leaves as
described. I need to identify that before I can take any measures.

(Sorry to hear about the storm damage to your plantings.)

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7


Tyra,

In my area we have a LOT of problems with Japanese Beetles
eating the sunflower leaves. I use insecticide soap (very
safe to use on any plants) and it helps but you have to
re-spray it after every rain.
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)

Digital Camera: HP PhotoSmart 850
For pictures of my garden visit http://members.iglou.com/brosen

Remove NO_WEEDS_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

What is this sunflower pest?
 

Bill R wrote:


Tyra Trevellyn wrote:
Pelvis Popcan wrote:

Thanks for your ideas. There may be some kind of fungus on the leaves
(I
usually see signs of powdery mildew late in the season on sunflowers).

However, the real problem right now is whatever is consuming the leaves
as
described. I need to identify that before I can take any measures.

(Sorry to hear about the storm damage to your plantings.)

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7


Tyra,

In my area we have a LOT of problems with Japanese Beetles
eating the sunflower leaves. I use insecticide soap (very
safe to use on any plants) and it helps but you have to
re-spray it after every rain.
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)


Bill,
Thanks for your suggestion, but there are no Japanese beetles hereabouts,
amazingly enough (we seem to have most everything else!). However, I 'm going
to do a light soap spray on one or two of the plants just to see if whatever it
is might find the spray itself distasteful. Since I can't see anything on the
leaves, I doubt if I'll be destroying any insects that way. At this point, I'm
figuring it must be some night feeder and I'll have to do the late-night
flashlight search tonight.

I still think grasshoppers might be a possibillity, but I've yet to see more
than that one a week or so ago.

Thanks again and
best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7

What is this sunflower pest?
 

Put a few pans or trashcan lids of water with a drop of dish soap in
thewm under the plants and overnight the feeding insect will drop into
it and drown.
My bet is on Asiatic beetles.

What is this sunflower pest?
 

From: (Beecrofter)
Date: Mon, Jul 28, 2003 10:21 PM
Message-id:

Put a few pans or trashcan lids of water with a drop of dish soap in
thewm under the plants and overnight the feeding insect will drop into
it and drown.
My bet is on Asiatic beetles.

I am just about to go out with a flashlight to look.....and now I think I'll
take some pans of soapy water with me. Thanks.....! I'll report back
tomorrow.

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7

What is this sunflower pest?
 

Put a few pans or trashcan lids of water with a drop of dish soap in
thewm under the plants and overnight the feeding insect will drop into
it and drown.
My bet is on Asiatic beetles.

What is this sunflower pest?
 

From: (Beecrofter)
Date: Mon, Jul 28, 2003 10:21 PM
Message-id:

Put a few pans or trashcan lids of water with a drop of dish soap in
thewm under the plants and overnight the feeding insect will drop into
it and drown.
My bet is on Asiatic beetles.

I am just about to go out with a flashlight to look.....and now I think I'll
take some pans of soapy water with me. Thanks.....! I'll report back
tomorrow.

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7