So I went out to the garden, and noticed that one of my three dill plants had a few leaves eaten off. Now, the plants are just an inch tall with 2-3 leaf shoots, and on one leaf shoot the leaf was stripped to the leaf stem.
What would eat my dill?
Aphids are my guess. I've seen it happen pretty much as you described. Dill attracts beneficial insects like ladybugs, but the ladybugs gotta eat so they hang around the dill because the dill also attracts aphids. Unfortunately if the dill is small and the aphid numbers are huge and it is colder like now, the ladybugs are usually hibernating in the warmest spots they can find which is not in the garden.
Ergo, the dill gets chomped by the aphids faster than it can grow.
When predators and prey are more balanced, the dill can handle a few aphids without a problem.
Dill prefers warmer drier weather, I have a hard time keeping mildew off dill in rainy weather and it does not grow fast in the cold.
That is why I prefer to grow fennel as my main garden beneficial insect attractor. Fennel grows fine in cool weather, the seed heads are in bloom longer which attracts lady bugs, parasitc wasps, hover flies, and tachinid flies who feed on the nectar from the blooms and the fennel can trap a lot of aphids without really looking bothered by them. Fennel does have its drawbacks though, it does not like to be near most other plants. I have mine near gingers (the gingers have different kinds of aphids), horseradish, and gynuura which are pretty insect proof almost nothing likes them.
Since you have had caterpillar problems though, hornworms and parsley worms also like to feed on dill leaves. Bt might work if you can positively identify them or pick them off.
I have cabbage butterflies and fiery skippers that come around all the time but they prefer to munch on the cabbages. I either use Bt or netting to keep the butterflies out. Check leaves for eggs that the butterflies have laid.
Ergo, the dill gets chomped by the aphids faster than it can grow.
When predators and prey are more balanced, the dill can handle a few aphids without a problem.
Dill prefers warmer drier weather, I have a hard time keeping mildew off dill in rainy weather and it does not grow fast in the cold.
That is why I prefer to grow fennel as my main garden beneficial insect attractor. Fennel grows fine in cool weather, the seed heads are in bloom longer which attracts lady bugs, parasitc wasps, hover flies, and tachinid flies who feed on the nectar from the blooms and the fennel can trap a lot of aphids without really looking bothered by them. Fennel does have its drawbacks though, it does not like to be near most other plants. I have mine near gingers (the gingers have different kinds of aphids), horseradish, and gynuura which are pretty insect proof almost nothing likes them.
Since you have had caterpillar problems though, hornworms and parsley worms also like to feed on dill leaves. Bt might work if you can positively identify them or pick them off.
I have cabbage butterflies and fiery skippers that come around all the time but they prefer to munch on the cabbages. I either use Bt or netting to keep the butterflies out. Check leaves for eggs that the butterflies have laid.
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applestar
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Dill is also a favorite for Black Swallowtail caterpillars. Would they still be active during winter in Florida? Look closely for tiny off-while round eggs, tiny black hatchling caterpillars with white splotch marking, or green and black/yellow striped larger instars.
...again, slugs will also eat dill... And that army worm probably would too. -- there is likely to be more if there was one.
...again, slugs will also eat dill... And that army worm probably would too. -- there is likely to be more if there was one.