My Calendulas are ones grown from seed kindly sent to me a couple of years ago by Mike Rogers of "Flighty's Plot". Mike has generously sent Calendula seeds to loads of lucky people. Since he is so enamoured of this flower, they are known to all as Flighty's Favourites. The ones I like best are the more unusual "biscuit-coloured" ones, which are less brash than the more common bright orange ones.
I'm mentioning the Cornus (aka Dogwood) today, because it has been under attack from some dastardly pest that has chewed off most of its growing points. I say "it's", but I mean all of my several bushes. This is what has happened:
The pest chews through the "succulent" stem just below the newest set of leaves, effectively pinching-out the branch. Fortunately, the clever Cornus responds by putting its energy into producing TWO more shoots, emanating near the next pair of leaves.
I don't know whether it is the same pest that does this, but lots of the leaves have been attacked too. You can see here that there are rips in the leaf, near the central vein.
If anyone knows what it is that creates this damage, please let me know!
Here's my third "C" - the Cucamelon, aka Mouse Melon.
Yep, my two plants definitely have flowers on them, microscopic though they may be!
It would be nice if they could give me a decent crop, because it doesn't look as if the Cucumbers will. The cold, wet, windy weather has not suited them at all. So far, the only fruit to have been produced is this rather strangely-shaped specimen:
I have put a stone under its tip to keep it out of contact with the damp soil.
With pest damage I was told, edges and stems nibbled are slugs, big holes in leaves are snails and little holes are small caterpillars. Bits of leaf on ground are birds. Don't know how true it is
ReplyDeleteSo do you reckon a slug would climb right up to the tip of a 4-foot Cornus, just to nibble a bit of the stem?
DeleteSlugs and snails can make it up tonfirst floor windows!
DeleteYes, I've had slugs at the top of small trees. I would say 4ft is nothing to a determined slug :)
DeleteYes, I don't doubt slugs can climb, but would they go all that way up just for one nibble? The stems are often not even severed, just bitten into.
DeleteHow intriguing, I wonder what's causing the damage. I have some Flighty's Favourites growing in my garden too, they're such lovely flowers.
ReplyDeleteI love your calendula's, the lighter shades are delicate and soft in apperance. The stems of your dogwood do look like bird damage...but here..leaf cutter ants can do damage like that. Sometimes it feels like everywhere you turn around, some pest or another is doing damage in the garden.
ReplyDeleteI love the colour of your calendulas. I have only grown the very common bright yellows. The pictures with raindrops on the petals are beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention and link. Lovely pictures, and like you I really like these 'biscuit-coloured' Flighty's favourites. Cheers Flighty.
ReplyDeleteI have had the same problem with my cornus alba and have been unable to find out what on earth is causing the damage. So many leaves have now been damaged and fallen off the plant that I have had to cut it back. It was afflicted with the same damage last year.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to think it might be caused by some type of weevil. See my post of 28 July 2015, entitled "Of eggs and weevils", in which I wrote about the Rape Stem Weevil Ceutorhynchus Napi. It might be something similar to this.
DeleteI think you may be right. The leaves had some hard, black lumps on them that I photographed but couldn't enlarge them sufficiently to see what they actually were. Need a microscope.
ReplyDelete