What is eating my flowers at night, is a notion that most would assume night-time is sleeping time. However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth for so many tiny pests and medium-sized animals; for them, night-time is feeding time.
Let’s get familiar with some of the pests or animals that could be responsible for eating your flowers at night.
Contents
Different Pests That Eat your Flowers at Night
1. Spider Mites
When gardeners complain of pests, you will likely hear them mention spider mites a few times, because these are the ones that would nibble on your flowers. These tiny garden pests are a lot of trouble for plants during the day and even at night, especially if there is a large colony of their species and kinds.
Spider mites don’t attack flowers alone; they feed on several parts of plants, including the leaves and stems.
They are difficult to detect during the day because of their very tiny size, so imagine how much more difficult it will actually be to detect them at night, when they are feeding on the flower during late times. Don’t fret; if spider mites have been eating your flowers, you can tell they’ve been there.
– Symptoms of Feeding
Spider mites cause stunted growth and discoloration in plants. Once they would get on your plants, you will certainly notice tell-tale signs that they’ve been feeding.
One sure sign that you have a pest infestation is when your plants start to wilt and their flowers begin to die. As you first notice that your flowers start to drop and your plant becomes discolored from both, the petals and the leaves and as a result it is wilting, spider mites might be responsible for this decline in your plants’ health.
These pests are prone to lay their eggs underneath the plant leaves, and some species weave silky webs in between the leaves. This means that if you notice tiny moving spots on the underside of your plant’s leaves or silky webs between their leaves, they’re sure signs that you’re dealing with spider mites.
Moreover, their feedings can cause your plants’ leaves to twist and become curled. If their feeding is unchecked, spider mites can cause severe damage to your plants.
– Pest Control Methods
Once you have identified that you’re dealing with spider mites, you will be taking the first step in pest control. There are several ways to kill these pests, but the easiest method is to spray the affected plants with a natural miticide and one that you can use is neem oil. You need just a little of it with some water to do the trick.
Furthermore, many people have had some luck with using rubbing alcohol, especially when the infestation is still in the early stages. Another popular method is using plant-safe insecticides with some key components permethrin or pyrethrin, which will still do the trick.
2. Japanese Beetle
Japanese beetle isn’t as tiny as most pests are, on the contrary, these plant bugs are big enough that you can notice them among your garden plants. You might notice them around your garden during the day, but what happens to them at night? These are some commonly asked questions as regards these garden pests.
It can look like Japanese beetles disappear at night when you don’t see any activities from them again. However, they don’t disappear; they only go back into their nests in the soil, which are only a few inches deep, and they go right towards your flower.
– Symptoms of Feeding
Japanese Beetles prefer to feed on dense foliage and blooms. These pests leave behind holes, cuts, and tears in the leaves and blooms of plants after their feeding, and this is a clear sign of these beetles.
Their feeding process can cause the yellowing of leaves and eventually stunted growth, which means that as a result, checking the leaves and petals of your plants is a good idea.
– Pest Control Methods
Japanese Beetles are easier to control and manage than spider mites because they’re larger and can be easily picked out. You can use the biological method of pest control; by introducing their natural enemies to your garden.
In this case, nematodes are enemies of Japanese beetles and will prove effective in getting rid of them. On the other hand, you can use plant-safe pesticides. These are effective, especially when you spray the infested area when the plants’ bugs are active.
You may also try to use beetle traps; however, this method is less effective than the other two, because the chances to see them stuck on the trap is way less, due to the narrowing down of the location that you would place them.
3. Cutworms
Cutworms are warm-like pests found in most gardens. They are famous garden pests, and the damage they wrought on plants can be terrible. These annoying pests can consume a significant amount of your plants’ flowers in one feeding because of their large size.
– Symptoms of Feeding
If they’re in your garden, they’re hard to miss, both during the day and at night, because of their continuous presence and obvious size.
When cutworms become mature, they are seen as moths. The larvae, known as cutworms congregate towards the base of the plants they attract. When they start feeding, they practically start to cut the leaves, flowers, and stems, so you can quickly identify them once you notice this, as your flower will degenerate.
Now, because of how large these pests are, they’re easily noticeable, and the mess they leave behind is usually telling. If you notice significant cuts and holes on your plants, with caterpillar-like insects at its base, you’re most likely dealing with cutworms.
Overall, these pests also leave behind feces during the process of feeding. On another note, if you notice some of your plants have been cut close to their base, investigate, and you will definitely notice a few cutworms.
– Pest Control Methods
Again, the cutworms’ large size comes into play here. They are easy to hand-pick as a result of their size. Doing this is actually the most effective way to get rid of them.
An alternative method is to use Diatomaceous Earth as a solution to your problem. If the pests have an overwhelming number, you can attempt to kill them at once with Diatomaceous Earth mixture.
This compound is very effective when you spread it close to the base of affected plants. When the worms come into contact with the earth, they shrivel up and die.
On the other hand, you can use plant-safe pesticides to kill cutworms. The best time to exterminate cutworms is at night since that is when they’re usually active.
4. Snails and Slugs
Snails and Slugs are mollusks, and they’re one of the most famous plant pests that gardeners deal with. They reproduce rapidly and, as a result, can become a very real concern for your garden in no time just as you would see your flowers wilting and losing their color.
Both snails and slugs are nocturnal, but they are more active at night when the ground is cooler, and that is when they come out and you would trace them through their left behind slime. However, when the weather becomes cold, they go into hibernation.
Snails and slugs prefer to feed on flowers that grow in moist, wet regions like Impatiens. They will also consume flowers that love sunlight, such as irises, lilies, and petunias. Note that they are not subtle at all and can’t be, even if they tried, because of the translucent slimy trails they leave behind, especially you would see this in the morning.
– Symptoms of Feeding
The one tell-tale sign that you might have snails in your garden is the trail of mucus they leave behind, on leaves and flowers. You can also notice eggs in the process of upturning the soil around your plants.
This is not uncommon as slays lay tons of eggs, especially during the warm seasons. Additionally, you might see trails of snail droppings around your garden. All of these are signs you should pay attention to, therefore you can act quickly before they do any real damage.
– Pest Control Methods
You can hand-pick slugs and snails from your gardens, and cover up their nesting holes if you find them. However, this can be a hit or miss, as you can’t be sure if there are more pests or not. Also, you can try to trap them by using a beer trap. Which means doing so, you can capture them all at once before they do any real damage to your flower garden.
5. Tarnished Plant Bug
Tarnished plant bugs, also known as the Lygus bugs, are piercing and sucking insects, Indigenous to North America and found prevalent in Canada and Mexico. These pests cause a lot of damage to commercial crops yearly.
These plant bugs are true bugs, and as they become mature and adults, they are able to reach a length of 0.2 inches, and have a variety of colors ranging from light yellow with some dark tones, to black, with yellow spots. The most common ones are brown, with green accents.
If you notice tiny brown spots on your plant’s leaves, which later spread and cause the plant to die, your first suspect should be tarnished plant bugs. Tarnished bugs are dangerous pests because they destroy most plants they feed on.
The adults and larvae of these bugs feed by consuming the plants’ tissue, causing them to die eventually. As they feed, they inject a toxic substance into the plant, which kills it, and they do this by night time, which would leave the flower in a vulnerable position.
– Symptoms of Feeding
The damage caused by tarnished plant bugs starts off as very small brown dots on the leaves and flowers of plants. However, as the leaves grow, the untouched part grows bigger while the brown patches enlarge, causing the leaves to become deformed.
Furthermore, you will notice that your flower buds start to lose color, stop growing, and eventually fall off. After your flowering plants produce blooms, these blooms won’t turn into fruits, or they may turn into fruits, but the fruits never ripen.
If you notice that your plants’ seeds become discolored, shrivel, and collapse; all these are signs that tarnished plant bugs have been feeding on your plant.
– Pest Control Methods
Due to their constant movement, tarnished plant bugs can be challenging to control. In addition to applying a plant-safe insecticide, you can prevent these pests through cultural techniques, such as weeding out areas that serve as hibernating grounds and clearing garbage and other wastes.
Tarnished bugs tend to live on weeds and colonize them unless they begin to die or are cut off. So, to prevent their survival, you should mow weeds, so the bugs won’t have any place to stay. If the pests are stubborn to eliminate, it will be best to introduce plant-safe pesticides.
If you have detected tarnished plant bugs in your flower garden, use plant-safe pesticides and keep repeating the process as needed till you can eliminate all the pests. To be sure that the pesticide you have chosen is safe for the particular plant you want to use it on, just as it is advisable to do a patch test, so you don’t end up destroying your plants in the process of eliminating pests.
Different people have different ideas about when to start treatment. However, most agree that whether or not you use pesticides, weeding is very important, stressing this fact again.
Conclusion
While you’re asleep, some insects and animals are up and about, looking for what to eat and feed on. Their most like choice of food is your garden flowers. As you’ve seen from this article, there are several culprits that could be responsible for eating your flowers at night. Let’s remind ourselves of some keynotes:
- The pests that eat flowers at night can be tiny insects or relatively large animals.
- If pests are not controlled, they can devastate your whole garden.
- Most small pests can be controlled with pesticides.
- It’s best to check that the pesticides you choose to use on your plants, are safe for them.
- Most pests will leave signs that they’ve been in your garden, even if you can’t see them because of their size.
These are just a few of the pests that could be responsible for eating your flowers at night. However, with the knowledge from this article, you have an idea of what to look out for when you’re looking for your flower-eating culprits.
References
- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/integrated-pest-management-i-p-m-for-spider-mites/&ved=2ahUKEwj84p6z1-D7AhV_XaQEHfF9BlMQFnoECFQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3WK9FFE-vq5qDbOv_z4k6C
- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/tarnished_plant_bug.htm&ved=2ahUKEwjl_uaJjOH7AhWC7aQKHZHADwMQFnoECE4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0v_KVBsYK9Z4USmhXVxKi-
- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.maine.gov/dacf/php/gotpests/bugs/tar-plant-bug.htm&ved=2ahUKEwjl_uaJjOH7AhWC7aQKHZHADwMQFnoECEkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw37QZ8AA1PYVmHT4VS3sG8L
- https://ag.umass.edu/greenhouse-floriculture/fact-sheets/tarnished-plant-bug-field-grown-cut-flowers#:~:text=Management%20and%20Treatment%20Options,areas%20that%20provide%20overwintering%20sites.
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