I'm growing some dinner plate dahlia' s. They were growing great and I noticed some of the leaves had looked like they were being eaten. I noticed these brown dots on one of the leaves but I didn't see any pests on any of the plant. This morning I get up and half my plant has been eaten by something! My second dahlia plant doesn't look like it's been touched.
What's wrong with my dahlia
- Thread starter Mistyblue
- Start date
After thoroughly looking over my plant I noticed these little green bugs. Are they aphids? I killed all i seen. I snipped off all the affecting areas.
Attachments
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2017
- Messages
- 156
- Reaction score
- 70
That dahlia has been decimated by slugs or snails.Did you harden it off properly before planting ou?,looks as though it has been affected by cold as well.
Very sad looking plant
Very sad looking plant
Hello @Mistyblue - well that looks a bit sad at the moment. never mind, if you have snipped the top off there is always a chance some new growth will come through.
i can`t see the green bugs very clearly on the photo, but if you do have problems with those, soapy dishwater will get rid of them. Watch out for new shoots to grow, and for any little slugs/snails that might be lurking.
Your dahlia will grow again all the time the tuber stays ok, so all is not lost
i can`t see the green bugs very clearly on the photo, but if you do have problems with those, soapy dishwater will get rid of them. Watch out for new shoots to grow, and for any little slugs/snails that might be lurking.
Your dahlia will grow again all the time the tuber stays ok, so all is not lost
- Joined
- May 4, 2015
- Messages
- 2,441
- Reaction score
- 1,470
- Location
- Mid Michigan
- Hardiness Zone
- 5b
- Country
They do look a bit like aphids, is there a sticky residue on the leaves? That would be aphids.
I've read soapy water with a bit of cooking oil shaken up and sprayed.
I've read soapy water with a bit of cooking oil shaken up and sprayed.
Thank you for your replies! So I checked my plant last night and I came across like 15 earwigs on my plant. They were all over my other smaller dahlia plant as well. Today I promptly bought some bug powder for the earwigs. I just checked tonight and I caught one slug munching on a leaf and a second not to far from the plant. I put down a beer trap hoping to lure any slugs in. Sigh I think it's more of the earwigs though. There were a lot of them on my plant.
Right! Sounds like earwigs might be the main problem here then. Try putting down traps with olive oil in them. Earwigs can`t resist it, and natural remedies are always better than using chemicals. There are too many good bugs harmed when you start using chemicals.
Keep smiling, it is all part of gardening and the more problems you solve the better your garden will be.
Keep smiling, it is all part of gardening and the more problems you solve the better your garden will be.