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What is eating my fragrant hosta?

8 years ago

Something has eaten all 6 of my fragrant hosta down to the ground. I had 4 plantaginea and 2 Fragrant King. Had. Whatever it is hasn't touched any of the other non-fragrant varieties. I hope some of them will come back next year. I live in an urban area, so it's not deer. What have you found to be most useful when deterring rabbits, squirrels, and/or chipmunks? A neighbor suggested blood meal.

Featured Answer

windymess z6a KC, Ks

8 years ago

Last week I posted a pic of my Cathedral Windows in bloom...and it has chicken wire around it because of overactive dogs... but this weekend I went out and the blooms were bitten off of all the scapes!!!! Rabbits! Those scapes were 'leaning' over the edges of the chicken wire and I can just imagine those lousy rabbits standing on their haunches, or even standing up and resting their little rodent paws on the wire and munching away!

Then, I went around to the other side of the yard and checked on my cute little Rhino Hide... it had distinctive bite marks in several leaves.

Well, I cut off the bitten scapes from CW. And I trimmed the bitten part of the RH leaves - giving them a straight edge so I can tell if they get chewed on again. Then I sprinkled cayenne pepper all around the RH. Next day - no bite marks. But if it rains I'll have to re-apply. They've also been biting off the outermost growth on my Rose of Sharon - so there's chicken wire around that now, too. I think they like the new, tender growth.

They haven't bothered my Rainforest Sunrise hostas.

I kinda wish the foxes that used to live in the lot next door would come back.

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Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
based on the pic...

i have no opinion ...

no opinion on remedy ... until we ID the problem ...

regardless.. its late september ...why bother???

ken
Related Discussions
Another round of "What's eating my hosta?"
Q
Comments (4)
I figure the critter in your Hav-A-Heart trap had a long tail, which caught the door from tripping. Maybe a raccoon. Something is eating a few of mine, and some leaves are rolled up, so I figured it was cut worms or leaf rollers like on the cannas. So I dosed some with cuts in Sevin dust. Have yet to find a worm on the hosta, but I found some in a pot of spider plant which I had taken outside to water. When I returned it to the window behind the kitchen sink, I started seeing small black droppings on the countertops. Well, I found 5 cut worms, which I politely took to the open bird feeder as a protein snack for the fledglings. Never thought that these worms would make it up to the deck, and wonder about it being larva of some butterfly or moth. What could it be, you reckon? Gulf Fritillary butterflies laid eggs on my passion vines already, but they are specific to that food plant. What eats a spider plant!
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What's eating my hosta?
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Comments (19)
Try this from the U. of Illinois: Trapping A key element of an earwig management program is trapping. Scatter numerous traps throughout the yard. Traps can easily be hidden near shrubbery and ground cover plantings, or against fences. A low-sided can, such as a cat food or tuna fish can, with 1/2 inch of oil in the bottom makes an excellent trap. Fish oil (e.g., tuna fish oil) is very attractive to earwigs or vegetable oil with a drop of bacon grease can be used. Dump captured earwigs and refill cans with oil. Other common types of traps are a rolled-up newspaper, corrugated cardboard, bamboo tube, or short piece of hose. Place these traps on the soil near plants just before dark and shake accumulated earwigs out into a pail of soapy water in the morning. Continue these procedures every day until you are no longer catching earwigs. Yes, if you've got enough of them they will do that damage. Steve
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What is eating my hosta?
Q
Comments (5)
It's unlikely it's a virus. My first thought was foliar nematodes, but on second look, it looks more like either a cold damaged, sun damaged or water deprived area. I think whatever happened did so a while back. The tissue was damaged, turned light, then dark, then fell through. Unless you see something to indicate it's spreading, I'd chalk it up to cold damage. bk
...See More
What's eating my hosta
Q
Comments (34)
Kill! I rolled up the wet newspaper into little cigars and found nothing. Maybe Steve is right about mine, as I've found nothing and the damage seems to have stopped. Maybe it was cut worms. I haven't seen any of them in the last week or so. Yuck, one was on me about a week ago. (I have no idea where it came from.) I was driving and I felt it crawling on my arm. I slung it out the window and it held onto the side view mirror all the way home, which was about 5 miles, though not on freeways. It was an army worm like all that I've seen. bk
...See More
mybrownthumbz6
Original Author
8 years ago
I forgot that I did try cayenne a few times this spring. My guess is that rabbits are the culprits too. I hope my hostas come back in the spring. I'm going to look for a huge container of cayenne at Costco. They really seem to like all scapes and any portion of the fragrant hostas.
mybrownthumbz6
Original Author
8 years ago
Pictures for Ken. Both plantaginea and Fragrant king are...gone. My little Abiqua Drinking Gourd is untouched.
windymess z6a KC, Ks
8 years ago
Oh Bummer!
plantnutz
8 years ago
How about deer?

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