Need help with my Canna's!

Actually I have more Canna's this year than I have ever had before and needless to say I have more worms than ever before too!!
The problem is in the top leaf as where the worm rolls the leaf up and makes a web sorta thing around it in order to seal it shut. When I cut them off and unroll them they are always full of black worm goo and usually a whiteish gray looking worm.
Most all of the canna's are just now getting ready to bloom, so therefore when I cut the rolled leaves off, I think I am cutting off the buds!
What can I do??!!
I don't want to lose all my new cannas this year!

Did you ever get this solved? I'm bumping it up for you in case you didn't :)

Nope, I still ain't figured out what to do. I just keep going out there and finding the leaves rolled up. I usually take a ole kitchen knife that I use in the garden and I cut the webs to make the leaves unroll. Then I have to kill all the ugly ole worms! Yuck! Wish I could find something or someone that could tell me what to spray on them.
Thanks for the bump!

you should try some of that Schultz Gardensafe 3 stuff. That's what I bought to try and it's gotten rid of everything that has been bugging mine.........Japanese beetles off my roses, spider mites off my brugs, aphids off the roses......black spot, mold spots...........can't remember what else. They have it at WalMart and it's not that much. It's worth a try if no one else suggests anything better. Or have you tried that Sevin stuff? It's not that expensive either. Either one of those two I would try, they're both under $10

I had to write that name down, I'm gonna try that. Wish me luck! Hope its safe on the butterflies!

I hope so too..........maybe it'll say on the bottle

Molly, Here is a little info...

"The plants sometimes fall victim to Canna leaf rollers, or Brazilian skippers, the larval stage of a butterfly which cuts the leaves and rolls them over to live inside while pupating (the lesser canna leaf roller will sew the leaves shut before they can unfurl). Affected leaves can be cut off and destroyed or unrolled and cleaned (removing the caterpillar), though some gardeners prefer to use Bacillus thuringiensis, insecticidal soap, or the chemical malathion to kill the pests."

Good luck.. When the 1st frost kills my Cannas to the ground, I burn the dead foliage, this seems to help mine some..Although I have had a good many rollers this year..The malathion works well for me also..


Larkie

Thanks Larkie,
Now is the malathion safe for my butterflies? That is the only thing I am really worried about as the canna's with the problem are very close to the rest of the garden where my butter's love to hang out.

Molly,
malathion will kill butterflies, so be careful.. You may just want to cut off all infected areas and burn them, this can be fairly effective, just takes longer and has to be done by hand.. Good luck..
Larkie

Yikes!!! I'm glad I came back here to read this!! I don't want to kill my butter's and my baby cats! Guess I might better just start cutting them off and burning them as you said.
Thanks!

Mollybee I use Dipel on my cannas,moonflowers and tomatoes and I only have to apply twice a yr, spring and fall. I have lots of butterflies so doesn't seem to bother them but can't be sure if won't.

This message was edited Wednesday, Aug 20th 9:46 AM

Thanks Ruth.
I'm to the point I'll try just about anything.

MB, these are canna skippers that will turn into cute little butterflies. They can also turn your canna leaves into something that looks more like a lacey doily than a canna leaf. The canna is the larval food for certain species of skipper butterflies. I used to squish the caterpillars and unroll the leaves, but then I figured out what they were and I let them munch away. Bt is the most environmentally friendly, but it will not descriminate between species of caterpillars (it will kill any caterpillars that happen to ingest the Bt).

Also, cutting off the leaves will not cause you to loose the flowers--unless maybe you cut off the newest leaf that hasn't yet unfurled.