Advice on petunias?

[ChrisL]

My petunias are being devoured by something. I think it is some little worm. I saw one on there the other day and knocked it off. I've also noticed little tiny green bugs on them. Anyhow, I sprayed them down with a combination of water and dish soap. I hope it doesn't kill them. Does anybody know of an effective way to get rid of these pests besides pesticides?

 

[OldLady]

My petunias are being devoured by something. I think it is some little worm. I saw one on there the other day and knocked it off. I've also noticed little tiny green bugs on them. Anyhow, I sprayed them down with a combination of water and dish soap. I hope it doesn't kill them. Does anybody know of an effective way to get rid of these pests besides pesticides?

Diotomaceous earth (I'm sure I've spelled that wrong) is natural and kills quite a few things. I'm not sure what you've got. DE is a powder--you can get a cheap puffer spray can at the hardware store to apply it. If you can identify the bugs, you can always buy live, natural predator bugs to destroy them.
You really should get a magnifying glass, a glass jar with a lid and go out and collect a couple of the pests, then to online and identify them. Then you'll have a better chance of getting rid of them.

 

[ChrisL]

My petunias are being devoured by something. I think it is some little worm. I saw one on there the other day and knocked it off. I've also noticed little tiny green bugs on them. Anyhow, I sprayed them down with a combination of water and dish soap. I hope it doesn't kill them. Does anybody know of an effective way to get rid of these pests besides pesticides?

Diotomaceous earth (I'm sure I've spelled that wrong) is natural and kills quite a few things. I'm not sure what you've got. DE is a powder--you can get a cheap puffer spray can at the hardware store to apply it. If you can identify the bugs, you can always buy live, natural predator bugs to destroy them.
You really should get a magnifying glass, a glass jar with a lid and go out and collect a couple of the pests, then to online and identify them. Then you'll have a better chance of getting rid of them.

Thanks! I will look into that. I already know what the bugs look like, but I think it might be some type of worm. I read about it online, so I will wait and see how the dish soap water works and if that doesn't work, I will try your idea.

 

[ChrisL]

The dish soap idea worked a little but I found that there were still little caterpillars eating my petunias, so I just started inspecting them every day and pulling off any worms or other critters. I've also been snipping the growths of seed pods (which seem to take over if you let them!), and my petunias are doing much better. I took a picture, but my camera is kind of sucky, so the color is not nearly as vibrant as it should be. If you look closely though, you can see that they are back in full bloom!

 

[Dogmaphobe]

Tobacco bud worm. They love petunias.

Next year, spray with a product that contains b.t. It stands for bacillus thuringensis, and that will take care of them. It will work as a preventative, so if you hit them earlier in the season, that will really help.

 

[ChrisL]

Tobacco bud worm. They love petunias.

Next year, spray with a product that contains b.t. It stands for bacillus thuringensis, and that will take care of them. It will work as a preventative, so if you hit them earlier in the season, that will really help.

Thanks. I will definitely keep that in mind!