Who is eating my sunflowers?

August 4, 2023 2:40 PM

My sunflowers. Something is eating them. I sprayed neem oil, as per the local garden supply clerk, but it's not helping. None of the other plants in the garden seem to be affected. How can I get rid of these wee beasties?

Sorry about putting this on the Blue earlier, summertime heat brain lock.

posted by Marky to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Is there anything underneath the leaves?
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 3:16 PM on August 4, 2023

What area are you in?
posted by Silvery Fish at 3:20 PM on August 4, 2023

If your area has goldfinches its goldfinches, they eat the leaves. If you’ve got a plastic owl put it up next to the plants to scare the birds away, also any twirly sun catchers. My Mom surrounded hers with every lawn ornament she had and that worked too.
posted by lepus at 3:44 PM on August 4, 2023

We have several sunflower farms in the area...and they put up iridescent mylar film...usually in strips or streamers...They often use thr rainbow hued one...
posted by Czjewel at 3:51 PM on August 4, 2023

Yeah that could be goldfinch damage. If you don't have them in your area, go out at night with a flashlight, look under and around the leaves and see if you can figure out what's doing the damage.
Knowing what it is it's important to target the correct treatment and not spray pesticides when you don't need to (even if it's an organic or natural pesticide).
posted by oneirodynia at 5:19 PM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

In native plant communities, they say that if nothing’s eating your plants you’re doing it wrong. Or having your plants nibbled is a feature and not a bug.

If you’re in the US, helianthus is a host plant for the silvery checkerspot butterfly and maybe others, and if it’s a native insect on yours, they have evolved together and will likely not damage the plant (other than aesthetically). I would try a physical barrier or deterrent like lepus or Czjewel suggested before trying any other pesticide.
posted by sizeable beetle at 5:59 PM on August 4, 2023 [9 favorites]

If you can visually confirm it's not an insect, or if you can remove all of them first, the generally accepted practice is to put a gauze bag over the flower head and tie or ziptie it securely below so it can breathe but not be eaten. Time consuming, but worth it if you'd like to harvest the seeds later.
posted by ananci at 9:22 PM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

I’m going way on on a limb here and guessing it could be leaf cutter bees. Maybe? They don’t do any permanent damage and are wonderful critters.
posted by dbmcd at 12:30 AM on August 5, 2023

To me, that does not look like extensive enough damage to actually impact the sunflower growth. It looks more like caterpillars than anything else, so I would echo sizeable beetle and suspect a nice native butterfly who likes Helianthus, and I would just not worry about it. But do consider putting netting over your flowers if you're hoping to harvest seeds.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:31 AM on August 5, 2023 [2 favorites]