What's Eating My Geraniums?

[icyfroth]

Finally, I've got some read Geraniums growing in a terracotta pot. Sadly, they look bitten and curled, although they seem to flourishing ok. Putting out lots of new shoots.

I've pulled off a few grubs, but still those yellow spots appear, which eventually look like lacework on the leaves. Not impressed.

Any advice would be welcome.

[icyfroth]

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@imastawka wrote:

It's OK Erica,  Icy has always thought we were the same person  

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Sorry Stawka.

I don't think you're the same poster, I just somehow always confuse you both, even though you have totally different avis.

Thanks for the watering and repotting advice.

[bright.ton42]

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Another spray to make is to cook up some crushed garlic and chopped chillie with some water. Let it cool, add a few drops of detergent and use in a spray bottle. Nothing likes to eat garlic / chillie spray. Not even Possums.

Erica

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That's a good one,  I like eco friendly solutions if possible.  The possums cleaned out my pretty courtyard a while back  and ate all my impatiens,roses,   geraniums, even some succulents.  So now I only grow cacti and succulents and I keep them in a small plastic  greenhouse.  Fortunately they don't eat agaves which I love so I have a few of them, and ferns.  . 

[icyfroth]

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@lind9650 wrote:

That was Stawka, giving the hint about watering.

Something else to look for, beside the grubs are earwigs. Thy are only active at night and hard to find during the day.

I used to have 65 different Geraniums at my old house. Put crumpled up newspaper in pots or tins, laying on its sides between the Geraniums. In the mornings I would go out with a bucket of boiling hot water and shake the papers over the bucket. Drowned or cooked hundreds of earwigs.

Another spray to make is to cook up some crushed garlic and chopped chillie with some water. Let it cool, add a few drops of detergent and use in a spray bottle. Nothing likes to eat garlic / chillie spray. Not even Possums.

Erica

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Don't blame 'em Erica 

I only like either one in small doses myself lol.

chilis and garlic that is. Not possums.

We get quite a lot of urban possums. I find them cute, but I understand they can cause a lot of damage.

[lind9650]

I used to have some beautiful roses along my front verandah, but the possums had a feast eating the buds before the roses completely opened. One of my older neighbours told me about making garlic / chillie spray to deter the possums. It worked and since then I have never used any other spray for flowers or vegetables I grew.

No grubs, no earwigs, no snails or slugs and no possums anymore destroying my hard work.

Erica

[icyfroth]

Definitely going to try the chili and garlic then, Erica, I have both items in the house, so I don't have to go out and buy anything.

[icyfroth]

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@bright.ton42 wrote:

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Another spray to make is to cook up some crushed garlic and chopped chillie with some water. Let it cool, add a few drops of detergent and use in a spray bottle. Nothing likes to eat garlic / chillie spray. Not even Possums.

Erica

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That's a good one,  I like eco friendly solutions if possible.  The possums cleaned out my pretty courtyard a while back  and ate all my impatiens,roses,   geraniums, even some succulents.  So now I only grow cacti and succulents and I keep them in a small plastic  greenhouse.  Fortunately they don't eat agaves which I love so I have a few of them, and ferns.  . 

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Yeah I heard they were little buggahs, Bright.

Interesting they find those plants nutritious!

I've heard roses are edible even for humans!!

[bboperator17]

I want to know what Brighton did.

By the way, we just found the little green catapilla.
I loved the moth that turns into a catapilla.

[icyfroth]

Well..4 years on and I've given up trying to grow Geraniums. They just get eaten, no matter what I do. Not only the Geraniums, either.

So I've just given up on Geraniums and any other plants that are susceptible to grubs. Of any sort. Mind you, I only have pots on my balcony. Grubs get right in. I guess it's a grub thing.

I get that grubs turn into moths and insects need to feed birds and it's a whole ecology thing.

Still...I'm opting out.

[imastawka]

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_odkw=artificia+lgeraniums+in+pots&LH_PrefLoc=1&_osacat=0&_from=R...

[icyfroth]

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@imastawka wrote:

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_odkw=artificia+lgeraniums+in+pots&LH_PrefLoc=1&_osacat=0&_from=R...

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I don't care that much. 

It's just a balcony garden of potted plants.