All 10 of my giant variety sunflowers have holes in their leaves..I do see some ants on some leaves but not sure if they are the culprits..Is there any way of saving these plants from further damage?
Mysterious holes in my sunflower leaves!
Ants do not do this.
Look into caterpillars, beetles (the black bug in the picture is a beetle), and other pests large enough to do serious damage like this.
The plant is seriously weakened by this much feeding.
I would get some bait out for ground dwelling pests, and see if something is climbing up the plant at night.
You can try trapping whatever it is with some rolled newspaper. A lot of bugs will hide in the paper through the day, so you can shake them into a bucket, see what you have trapped.
Thank you kindly for the advice. I left several rolled up newspapers this evening next to each plant and will check in the morning. I also gave each leaf (both sides) a generous spray of a water/dishsoap solution. Did the same for my Zinnias and morning glories, which I have just noticed have holes in the leaves too.
The traps worked! Tapped the newspaper rolls in a bowl and out came several earwigs. I sprayed some diluted dishsoap in water on the leaves again tonight. Will this kill the earwigs? Also saw some golden tortoise beetles on my morning glories; I sprayed those leaves as well. Will spraying my plants with diluted dishsoap a few times a week harm the plants?
This message was edited Jun 24, 2015 7:21 PM
As long as it is diluted no stronger than 1 tablespoon to 1 gallon of water, plants seem OK with this.
For the earwigs you can also try some bait. Make sure it is applied in a way that dogs and cats cannot get it. A light dose, well scattered can work.
Also, clean up hiding places.
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