What Insect is Eating my Hostas?
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:23 am
All-in-all I've been pretty lucky with insects not attacking my plants. However, (as with most things) there's always an exception; my exception is with Hostas.
Couple of years ago I bought some Golden Edger Hostas for my shaded portion of the yard; they soon got gobbled up. But every so often they come back, just to be ravaged again. Recently I bought four Sagae Plantain Lilies, (Sagae Hosta). They've faired pretty well, but still somewhat stressed by bug attacks on the leaves, but I think what really hurts them are the deep bite marks in their stems, just found one this morning that only has one leaf left, the other is lying on the ground, thanks to bugs.
I don't know what's eating them, but I'm wondering if I should make a barrier around them so the mulch doesn't collect at the base of the plant (thinking that if the base is exposed the culprit will stay away).
Anyone have any idea what may be eating them? All my other shade plants seem to be doing fine, so I think I just may have to give up on Hostas. However, there's one type of Hosta I'd like to try, can't remember the name, but it's a very light color of green (sort of lime green) with a VERY fragrant flower. Anyone know the name? I think it's the only Hosta with such a fragrant flower; I've only seen it once in some garden store and was blown away by the fragrance that I could smell from a distance.
P.S. I don't do the insecticide thing.
Couple of years ago I bought some Golden Edger Hostas for my shaded portion of the yard; they soon got gobbled up. But every so often they come back, just to be ravaged again. Recently I bought four Sagae Plantain Lilies, (Sagae Hosta). They've faired pretty well, but still somewhat stressed by bug attacks on the leaves, but I think what really hurts them are the deep bite marks in their stems, just found one this morning that only has one leaf left, the other is lying on the ground, thanks to bugs.
I don't know what's eating them, but I'm wondering if I should make a barrier around them so the mulch doesn't collect at the base of the plant (thinking that if the base is exposed the culprit will stay away).
Anyone have any idea what may be eating them? All my other shade plants seem to be doing fine, so I think I just may have to give up on Hostas. However, there's one type of Hosta I'd like to try, can't remember the name, but it's a very light color of green (sort of lime green) with a VERY fragrant flower. Anyone know the name? I think it's the only Hosta with such a fragrant flower; I've only seen it once in some garden store and was blown away by the fragrance that I could smell from a distance.
P.S. I don't do the insecticide thing.