I planted many different flower seeds in mid-June and things are mostly now in bloom. I've noticed though that many of the plants are being heavily eaten by some insect, and it seems that the sunflower leaves are getting the worst of it. (Somebody is even also eating away at the sunflower petals.) Any ideas on what insect could be doing this and what I can do about it? A sampling of the sunflower leaves:
It could be grasshoppers. Slugs can also eat a lot, but I don't see any trails. Grasshoppers can devour leaves, flowers and even veggies.
I get grasshoppers on mine. Not much to do unless you want to go chemical. If you're lucky he'll get eaten by some bird, LOL.
I just remembered this old DG thread I saved from 2013 about grasshoppers and possible organic ways to control them. It's pretty interesting.
I haven't had a grasshopper problem for a very long time, but I remember a bad infestation in my very first vegetable garden many, many years ago in Northern California. They were literally eating giant holes in my green peppers!
Here's the link:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1323879/
Thanks for your replies over the last week which I'm just seeing now. I forgot that the davesgarden forum can't send out email notifications when replies are posted, and I just plumb forgot to check the web site on my own.
This suggestion about grasshoppers is very interesting. I actually did see one grasshopper in the garden about a week ago and was very surprised because I don't think I've seen a grasshopper in my yard in the 13 years I've lived here. I was just looking around the garden admiring everything and out of nowhere I heard a loud clicking sound and saw that a grasshopper had just landed on a hosta leaf. But that's the only one I've seen.
If it is grasshoppers causing the damage, that would explain why I never see any insects or larvae on the leaves that are being eaten. I've checked day and night and have never seen anything.
Hmm... on second thought I did see one of those colorful leafhoppers once. Could that possibly be a factor?
Nutsaboutnature, thanks for the link to the thread about using flour. I'll keep that in mind.
