Well, I talked to two organic farmers who said neem oil might help, but what both suggested was simply feeding the plants to encourage new growth and hoping they will be strong enough to withstand the infestation. One said they often cover their planting rows after setting out seedlings early in the season when the beetles are most active, then remove the covers as plants get larger. It's too late for that now and too warm as well. We'll see. Everything else is growing great, a little snail damage but they're easier to control. Biggest pest here is gophers. We pretty much have to grow everything in boxed raised beds with a small grid chicken wire "floor" 18 inches down. Put up two owl boxes in the neighborhood earlier this year, but no one has moved in yet. Maybe next year we'll have some resident predators more efficient than the local cats.

I'm not convinced you are wrong either, electrical discharges are wierd and wonderful things. I was a little girl when St. Elmo's fire sent a fireball through our kitchen and my mother who held all sorts of beliefs associated with her ancestry was convinced it was an omen. A totally scary and cool one, though. Heartrot is perhaps the most common cause of redbud decline and eventual death. It starts out as a fungal infection from a wound in the bark and moves inward to the pith and then down the length of the branch or trunk. That is pretty consistant with the lignin staining at the crotch and the dark line down the pith. Since it doesn't affect the outer layers where the nurtient paths are, you are not necessarily going to see a lot of foliar involvement at that point. It's just one of those 'if it looks like a duck' impressions. I'm not great at plant pathology of woody stock but I know a few on here who are, and wondered what they might think.

Well, I am just sick of them, so far nothing on the daylilies, but they have shredded my coneflowers and my balloon flowers, got to a dahlia too!!! I was putting out damp cereal boxes with the lids open, supposedly the earwigs will go in the box and are too stupid to get out. OK , so it did capture a few, but not as much as I wanted it to. so i got really mad and just sprayed the balloon flowers with insecticidal soap, the brand was Garden Safe, will it worked well enough, but only for one night!! The next night they were back for round two, I don't think I can go on spraying the plants every single night. I had a recipe that involved Listerine mouthwash, but that was to spray around doors and windows to keep them out of your house, don't think that would be good for plants. so I have empty cereal boxes laying around, I did put a heavy stone in each, so they don't blow away, and I try to remember to spray them with water, cause I guess they have to be damp to be an attractive house for the earwigs. I also hope someone else has a better solution Yikes, I hate them, cindy

Thank you for your response. I am so clueless about these things! That is why I'm asking, because I've never learned about these things. I was under the impression that a slug wouldn't climb six or seven inches off the ground, which is how high the holes are on the coneflower. I haven't checked at night yet, but I hollowed out a couple of spaces & put small bowls of beer near the plants with the most damage, into which I hope some slugs will fall! I'll keep you posted on my success. I'll look tonight with a flashlight. If I have a lot of mulch on the beds, could that make things worse? I had some help in the garden last year, and now that I am looking at the thickness of the mulch, it could be too much. From the reading I've done it sounds like they like to live in mulch. I was curious about what else it might be if not slugs, because if it isn't slugs, I know I'm going to be sad about my poor plants. I want to learn about what else I need to consider, like a beetle of some sort?