plants all but dead
Help! I noticed that my flowers were looking a little droopy last week. I thought it was because of the high temps we have been having so I just watered more deeply. We were gone for the weekend and when we returned, the sunflowers were yellowish white and drooping to the ground. This is when I took a closer look and found HUNDREDS of black and red caterpillars that have stripped the leaves right off the plants. Some plants are covered in webs. I declared war and attempted to hand pick them off but found that a loosing battle. In my dismay, I broke out an insecticide (I really did not want to use it but I was desperate). I have sprayed them and think I've gotten them all only to find another load on them the next day. I'm loosing all my plants! What can I do?
Libby
plants
after 2 years of having the sunflowers die on me, I finally decided to get results on other plants. Bee balm was here, but had already finished blooming, so that was out. I finally took counts on several of the other plants in my yard. I looked around to see what was attracting the bees at that time, what my options where. Since I only have 4 things flowering right now, I went online to see which of those 4 attracted bees. That narrowed my list down to 3 choices. This morning, I took counts on all 3 of those. It's not an ideal solution, but better than no info at all. Good luck with yours.