How to Identify and Control Budworms

Design and InstallationGarden Caregarden TriviaPlant Health Care
Written By Peter Morris

The Tobacco Budworm

 This is a familiar garden pest we encounter every season. It is a caterpillar that loves many of our favorite plants.  It is also an agricultural pest of both tobacco and cotton.  In our gardens it feeds on the flowers of geranium, petunia, snapdragon and nicotiana – sometimes even roses.  Preferring floral buds, they drill into these hollowing them out completely.  Their frass (insect poop)  is usually the same color as the petals which they also love to eat !  Budworms survive the winter as a pupa in the soil.  Emerging as an adult moth in late spring, females lay one egg each on a floral bud.  The caterpillars hatch and eat non stop for about a month until they are 10 times their original size, then pupate in the soil for a few weeks.  This cycle repeats itself producing several generations a season.  The Fall generation remains dormant until spring.  It is a very difficult caterpillar to control as it has become resistant to many insecticides.  It also does not respond well to the biological Bt spray as they are protected inside buds until they are large enough to be unaffected by it.  Unfortunately, using stronger pesticides may  damage flower buds. 

Favorite food - geraniums ! - budworms drill holes in buds and eat from the inside and as they get older will grow and munch on the entire flower

The adult egg laying moth

Call Plant Specialists TODAY !

our Plant Health Care team will make sure your floral buds are safe !

Don't delay – the sooner the better !

GREENING NEW YORK FOR OVER 51 YEARS !

   Article written by our Staff Horticulturist, Peter B Morris, BSc, MSc, MBAAll photographs used with permission @SHUTTERSTOCK  

Peter Morris

Peter was born and raised on a beautiful green island in the midst of a tropical rainforest. He was introduced into the world of plants at the age of six when his grandmother, an avid Spanish gardener herself, asked him to help her grow seeds for her pepper garden. He was hooked! By the time he was a teen, he had his own rose and orchid collection numbering in the hundreds. Botany was in his blood, and that is what he set out to study.

His passion brought him to NY in the late seventies to further his education. His tenacity allowed him to work full time at Plant Specialists while he completed a MS in Plant Biology. As a manager at the time he felt unsatisfied with his knowledge of business and business processes. Peter felt compelled to learn, so he then pursued and completed an MBA in Quality Management within a few short years.

Peter’s other passion is teaching. His natural ability is quickly consumed by our staff in all subjects in Botany, Horticulture, and Landscaping. He created an immense reference library of more than 3,500 plants providing an invaluable resource for our staff.

Peter’s breadth of knowledge and wisdom allows him to effectively diagnose the needs of plants. Sometimes just by walking into a garden he can create a prescription that fixes even the hardest issue. He is our Staff Botanist, Diagnostician, and all around Mentor. Recently, he has put his immense knowledge and skills into developing a new department that focuses on Plant Healthcare. As he puts it, “Magic through Science”. The PHC staff that surround him have avidly consumed his teachings. Substantially developing their own plant wisdom, many have taken on difficult plant health issues with spectacular results.

Plant Healthcare has been an instant success with customers! The proper treatment of insects and diseases including Organic methods has made pest control a necessity for every plant. Correcting hormonal imbalances caused by planting in containers or refurbishing soils leached of nutrients by irrigation systems are big challenges PHC has become quite comfortable addressing. The scientific approach to the complex demands of keeping plants healthy in our harsh city environment has made many a customer say WOW!

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