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Amaranthus looks like swiss cheese

18 years ago

Something in my long flwerbed is eating all my amaranthus leaves.I have a few different ones growing,a purple(deep pretty purple leaves...if remove glasses and step back 15 feet) love-lies-bleeding,josephs coat,another purple,but has a metalic sheen to it.I see alot of different bugs in this bed,so no idea which one is doing the damage..the one I see on the plants looks similar to a fly,but longer.I see these small caterpillar type looking things...some are creamish colored others are green,a pale green.I also scatter some white moth looking things when I water this bed. growing in same bed is mums/salvia/zinnias/society garlic/cannas/Brugmansia/BES/Sage& 2 rosebushes.

Whatever they are...they are only eating amaranthus leaves..are holes...worse than dot-to-dot.They are on one other leaved plant further down in bed(by 40 ft.....)my dauntra its small white flowers with purple centers& were NOT this way last year....but not as ad as the amaranthus.I do have a few purple amaranthus at other end of yard...no holes at all...perfect foliage.

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Comments (6)

rusty_blackhaw
18 years ago
Leading contenders for damage would be slugs and the caterpillars.

There are baits for slugs (iron phosphate pellets are said to be nontoxic to domestic animals). BT is an effective spray to kill caterpillars, safe for people if used properly.
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njoynit
Original Author
18 years ago
this morning is tannish small cats& looks like some mini lighting bug?I sprayed some insectsidal soap yesterday evening(was 4 hr power outage...I got bored& OUT of cooking dinner.)I do have neem spray.I use on my citris trees that I could use.I noticed last night my leaves raise up on amaranthus just like my brugs,that was easy for spraying.We've had a dry spring. The ones at other end of yard are still fine.
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Vera_EWASH
18 years ago
Your's and mine both baby! Something has been leaving my Amaranthus leaves ragged too..some leaves right down to just the mid vien. Seems to be a nocturnal pest, and I'm guessing it's either slugs or earwig nymphs and adults...earwigs will feed on tender new plants. Seem to only be seriously going after the Amarantus 'Intense Purple', but I'm also getting the same but not as severe damage on Amaranthus 'Love-Lies-Bleeding', Castor Bean, Basil 'Red Rubin' while other Basil are un-affected and some younger nasturtium... the elder plants in flower bud stage are perfectly un-harmed! I put out slug traps consisting of yeast/sugar/water mix in shallow containers dug into and level with soil line in the problem areas and only caught earwig nymphs if that tells you anything. I also put collars around my Red Rubin Basil and Intense Purple Amaranthus and the problem ceased to get worse.

Vera
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Garden_Momma
18 years ago
Somethings eating mine too. So far just the intense purple (that are in same bed). LLB is looking good (they are in another), Vera what are collars & Eric BT?...
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rusty_blackhaw
18 years ago
BT is Bacillus thuringiensis. It's a bacterium that produces a toxin deadly to caterpillars (the toxin is sold in a liquid form to mix with water; there are variations used against a variety of insects including mosquito larvae).

It is one of the safest pesticides to use and extremely effective against caterpillars (I generally use it to kill the rotten little green caterpillars that eat my brussels sprout plants). You do have to spray it every couple of weeks or so because it breaks down quickly. It is a broad spectrum pesticide, so indiscriminate spraying is not a good idea if you are a fan of butterflies.
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Vera_EWASH
18 years ago
Collars meaning cut out milkjugs, tin cans, etc...just so they can get past seedling stages. Cutworms, earwigs, slugs cant climb up over

Vera
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