What’s eating my petunias? - Ask Extension
For several weeks now something has been eating my petunias, mostly just the flowers. As soon as there are blooms they are pretty quickly destroyed. ...
Knowledgebase
What’s eating my petunias? #716301
Asked August 22, 2020, 12:40 PM EDT
For several weeks now something has been eating my petunias, mostly just the flowers. As soon as there are blooms they are pretty quickly destroyed. For the longest time I could find no bugs and the only evidence was tiny black dots of some kind all over the leaves. Then two different times I found a green, “normal” sized worm. This morning I saw a tiny green worm making a hole in one of the blooms. What’s eating my petunias and is there anything I can do about it?
Arapahoe County Colorado
Expert Response
Hello,
Thank you for the photos. They are very helpful. It looks as though you have some tobacco geranium budworms chewing on your petunias. The black grains you see on the leaves are actually their feces, and this is a telltale sign of there presence.
The easiest way to treat your flowers for this pest is to remove the larvae (worms) by hand early in the morning or in the evening. This will help eliminate them and keep your petunias from being chewed.
If you would prefer to use a chemical alternative, the least harmful to other insects would be to use an insecticide containing spinosad or bacillus thuringiensis, both available at area garden centers.
See link below for more complete information:
https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/tobacco-geranium-budworm-5-581/
Thank you for the photos. They are very helpful. It looks as though you have some tobacco geranium budworms chewing on your petunias. The black grains you see on the leaves are actually their feces, and this is a telltale sign of there presence.
The easiest way to treat your flowers for this pest is to remove the larvae (worms) by hand early in the morning or in the evening. This will help eliminate them and keep your petunias from being chewed.
If you would prefer to use a chemical alternative, the least harmful to other insects would be to use an insecticide containing spinosad or bacillus thuringiensis, both available at area garden centers.
See link below for more complete information:
https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/tobacco-geranium-budworm-5-581/
