What's Eating My Gazania Flower Petals?
 

It's not slugs. Could it be woodlice?

Draven wrote in message
.uk...
It's not slugs. Could it be woodlice?


Or Earwigs?

Try the classic Dahlia/Chrysanth trap (straw-filled plant pot on top of cane
next to plant). If you have earwigs, they should oblige by hiding in the
pots overnight, enabling you to examine them in the morning.

Spider

In article , Draven
writes
It's not slugs. Could it be woodlice?


Probably not. They seem to need very soft food, ie partially rotted.

Why are you so sure it's not slugs?


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Draven wrote:
It's not slugs. Could it be woodlice?

It probably /is/ slugs - number one rule I've found is to blame slugs for
everything unless - or until - you find otherwise. 95% of the time you don't
have to look any further. Slugs must have cast-iron stomachs (if they have
stomachs that is) they happily munch away on the leaves of my datura (sorry
brugmansia - does anyone know any reason for the name change - I assume it
was named after a Mr (Dr?) Brugman(s)?) It doesn't appear to kill the slug
(more's the pity some would say) but I'm wondering if it's some sort of
survival tool? Because all parts of the datura are poisonous, I'm wondering
if this makes them less appealing to the neighbourhood /turdus/
population...?

Are we going to be seeing a race of 'superslugs'? I damned well hope not!

--
In memory of MS MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/

Miss Perspicacia Tick wrote in message
...
Slugs must have cast-iron stomachs (if they have
stomachs that is) they happily munch away on the leaves of my datura
(sorry
brugmansia - does anyone know any reason for the name change - I assume it
was named after a Mr (Dr?) Brugman(s)?) It doesn't appear to kill the slug
(more's the pity some would say) but I'm wondering if it's some sort of
survival tool? Because all parts of the datura are poisonous, I'm
wondering
if this makes them less appealing to the neighbourhood /turdus/
population...?

Are we going to be seeing a race of 'superslugs'? I damned well hope not!

--
In memory of MS MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/



Hi Miss PT,

I'm not sure there was a real change of name - more a clarification. One
name - I think Brugmansia - is the botanical name for "Angel's Trumpets";
the other name, Datura, is the botanical name for "Thorn Apple". I may have
it the wrong way round, and I'm sure someone will pop up and tell me.
Please Do.

The main difference between the two (and, again, I think I've got this
right!) is the Thorn Apple flowers are more upright, whereas the Angel's
Trumpet flowers are pendant. No doubt there are other botanical
differences, but this is the lay gardeners' most obvious diagnostic during
the flowering season.

Spider

In article , Miss
Perspicacia Tick writes
Draven wrote:
It's not slugs. Could it be woodlice?

It probably /is/ slugs - number one rule I've found is to blame slugs for
everything unless - or until - you find otherwise. 95% of the time you don't
have to look any further. Slugs must have cast-iron stomachs (if they have
stomachs that is) they happily munch away on the leaves of my datura (sorry
brugmansia - does anyone know any reason for the name change - I assume it
was named after a Mr (Dr?) Brugman(s)?)

It's not a straight name change. It was decided that the erect-flowered
daturas and the droopy flowered ones were sufficiently distinct as to be
in different genera. Since, presumably (since this is how the reules of
nomenclature work), the genus name Datura was originally defined on the
basis of one of the erect-flowered species, a new genus name had to be
found for the droopy flowered ones - hence Brugmansia.


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

On Tue, 24 May 2005 07:46:01 GMT, "Draven"
wrote:

It's not slugs. Could it be woodlice?

Or birds. It has been known.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net