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Need help. Something eating all my plants

I have had a problem! The last two years something strips all the leaves and new shoots off my plants. Roses are dead now and it is now happening to my Dahlia`s even thou all the old plants have been dug up and soil tilled with new bark chips put on top? Whatever it is loves the roses new shoots very much. I can not see any bugs thou and have tried ant and slug pellets /powder.Even sprays!  Can someone help before my new Dahlia tubers come! 

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  • I'm not clear - is this something that's happening now or did it happen a while back?

    It sounds as if it might have been sawfly damage on the roses.

    Please explain more about your dahlias - you say they're being eaten although you've dug them up image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • It is happening now and the past.Not just roses but Dahlia`s and clematis climbers.

    After the roses got stripped this summer the area was dug up and turned over to prepare new bed. I planted a new Dahlia and the leaves are almost gone now again.The roses at first looked like something was eating the leaves but as a new bud came out that also was eaten. Even the old leaves eventually.

     

  • Slugs and snails will eat dahlias, but we've had several frost now so dahlia foliage will be dieing down anyway.

    Just a thought - whereabouts in Mid Suffolk are you?  Any chance there are any deer getting into your garden?


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • In Bramford,just outside Ipswich but no deer. The last Dahlia that is going has only been caught by the frost yesterday and the leaves have been eaten before this. Just the leaves not the stems or anything else. Have tried everything.slug pellets.salt,ant powder, rose spray, malathian spray. What ever it is seems invincible to everything I have tried. First the new leaves then the older ones and in the mean time any new buds and finally there is nothing left except stalks? Then death... Mystery

  • I was wondering if you have earwigs, I've had a big problem with them over the past couple of years in the garden and the greenhouse. They're difficult to spot and they're good at hiding. They do strip off a lot of the leaves and petals. Look out for them, they're an absolute nuisance. Good luck.

  • Is there any defined shape to the 'nibbling'?  What does a half-eaten leaf look like?


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • I am sure I can show everyone plenty of eaten leaves! I have heard about earwigs? Never thought they would do that to a garden thou? Anyone know if there is a way to get ride of them. I want my garden to look nice for my wife who loves roses and dahlia`s but they have to have leaves! 

     

  • Photos of the damage might help narrow down the culprits image

    Click on the little tree icon on the toolbar above where you type your post, and follow the instructions to upload an image from your pc.


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Might be worth trying something specifically for earwigs. I tried a powder, sprayed on the leaves, it worked well, it was brilliant to see the new leaves forming.  Not sure about this time of year though, I don't know whether they hide in the winter.

  • When digging up some potatoes today, I found an earwig about 4 inches down in the soil in a little 'pocket' it had made for itself.  I assume t was a female overwintering, ready to lay it's eggs in the Spring.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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