What insects eat impatiens petals?

Question

Some sort of insect is having at my impatiens petals! It's not eating the whole bloom, just leaving a half moon void and moving on to the next...it's driving me bananas! What could it be and how do I safely get rid of it!

Answer 1

Snails and their "shell-less" cousins, the slugs, are common residents in the garden. Most of these feed on decaying organic matter but many can chew the foliage of living plants. Snails and slugs prefer the dark and usually do their damage at night, leaving ragged leaves. Use a flashlight at night to detect these pests or look for the slime trails on damaged plant foliage in the early morning.

These pests require high humidity or moisture and usually reach pest status during wet years or during the rainy periods of the spring and fall. Control is best achieved by making the garden less suitable for snails and slugs. Remove excess mulch in order to allow the soil to dry slightly, clean up any fresh plant debris and open the plant canopy so that sunlight can reach the ground.

Snails and slugs are attracted to the yeasty odor of beer and several traps are available that use this odor. I like to sprinkle snail and slug bait (beige-colored iron pellets) in my garden beds.

Ants may be another culprit. Try sprinkling some store-bought ant killer in the flower bed.  Black ants attack my Clematis vine every year about this time.

Holes in the leaves are a telltale sign of cabbage, horn or other worm feeding. Hand remove adults. Look for eggs on the undersides of the leaves. Ortho makes an effective spray called Ortho Systemic Insect Killer that protects the entire plant from chewing and sucking insects. Another product is Sevin.