I've just been out in the back yard, cutting down all my canna lilies. Apparently I have a leaf-roller infestation and I'm not happy. Besides, it's hot out there. Stupid bugs. I read on a gardening site that once infested to just cut the plants back severely and start using a bug spray when they start leafing out again. Has anyone successfully treated for these pests?
I have canna lilies, too, and as far as I know , they are fine. What is a leaf-roller bug , (never heard of such a thing) and how do you tell that you have an infestation, @Beth Gallagher ?
They are some sort of little caterpillars, Yvonne. They make a web thing and actually roll themselves up in the leaves. The leaves get brown and ugly. (Not my photos...)
I haven't had to deal with them since moving to Alaska, @Beth Gallagher, but when I did, I usually sprayed heavily with BT, a caterpillar-specific bacteria that makes the bugs get sick and die when ingested and it doesn't kill anything but caterpillars. Bees and such are not affected. You should be able to find it in any good store that stocks garden stuff. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/insects/leafroller-damage-control.htm Amazon has several brands of the stuff. This is only one:
Oh my, Von. Do your cannas get plenty of sun? I have three different colors in separate areas of my yard and they all bloom well in the spring and summer. My red ones have the leaf rollers so I had to cut them off about 4" from the soil, but they'll be back in a couple of weeks.
Yes they got plenty of sun. I couldn't think of a reason why they never came back. I think I'll transplant them.
I wonder if they froze in winter or something. Do you live where it gets really cold? I live in the sauna bath of the Gulf coast, so we get and average of 2 days of "winter".
Yes, it can get really cold. As a matter of fact @Yvonne Smith gave me some gardening tips and one was to move them inside during cold weather but I didn't.
Probably , that is one of the perks of living here in the Southland, we don’t have to bring as many plants inside during the winter as people who live further north have to do. When I had calla lilies, I did have to bring those inside over the winter and put them back out each spring; but the cannas seem to be more hardy.
When I read the title, I thought the post was going to be about potheads. I think from now on, I'm going to call them leaf rollers. How fun is that?