A musk mallow YIKES!

Check out these two malva alcea fastigiata-

what has happened to the one that has lost its oompf?

They get great water and love. Should I pull it? Any ideas?

Maybe some unpleasant creepy-crawley has taken a fancy to the roots of the sick one....

We don't have gophers.. what else is underground? We had a tomato plant on the other side of the the garden that did this too.

Wire worms... leatherjackets... millipedes...

Thanks,

Will diaomaceous earth help with those? These malvum (haha- that cannot be correct!) are in the middle of our organic potager.

I just pulled the offending malva up and it is a feast of wildlife in that bed!

Little skinny worms (aren't all worms good?), ants galore (which I was getting ready to treat with DE), little baby flies (?), and aphids under the leaves that are yellow-er than white.

But it looked pretty much healthy from the soil line down...

Ants generally don't do much harm. It would have been the skinny worms that did the damage. In this part of the world we have a group of products that kill 'soil pests'. It is a powder that you lightly dig, or hoe into the soil, and the chemical kills the larvae of the nasties. You should have something like that where you are.

If that's what diamaceous earth is - fine...

Here is that stuff which I just bought

http://ighawaii.com/naturally/naturalanimal/de.html

We shall see!

That looks brilliant - I will definitely follow that up.
Thanks.

M

I often leave the sick plant so theyll leave the others alone. Especially with organic.... gotta share the wealth. Call it.... buddhist gardening...

That makes so much sense! And I already pulled it.

Leaving the sick plant won't stop the bugs from attacking and destroying the other plants. Infact, it can spread the infestation even worse.

Okay..that make sense too!! LOL! I am flying on pure intuition here!

Its like potty training- everyone has their own ideas!

I did pull it and everything else seems good for now.

I'm with CaptMicha - in the war against the destructive bugs, sensible gardners take no prisoners!

This is very true, Common sense is best in the end,,,, plus experience is gained through mistakes more often than anything else.

Plus theres alot of icky fungus and mildew out there that must be watched. But SOMETIMES I like to leave little snacks.

pssssssss id spray them both with roundup!!!!
but i hate mallow! ;)

Have you been in my garden again????

HAHAHA!!

LOL nope but those things reseed like crazy you may be glad that one is wilted!!!!

BIG SMILE!:-)