Janice, I posted some pics last year of similar. Advice lead me to look with a flashlight after dark and discovering slugs. Leaves themselves had no/little damage. Sprayed with 10% ammonia for a couple of weeks and seemed to work, but by then damage had happened. Mine were mostly undulatas and a few others. Added DE (Diatomaceous Earth) to regimen this year and haven't noticed damage to undulatas yet, but just noticed similar damage to some others yesterday and today that I didn't use DE - new plants. So they will get some slug bait and DE.

Pics from 08
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Paul

Thank you, Paul for your response!! Guess what--I just went out, with 'Sevin' in hand again and found a small
slug marching across a leaf--and it's BROAD DAYLIGHT!!
For crying out loud!! Don't they know 'boundaries'????

Okay--then I know what to do!! I guess all the bait I put out has caused them to go to less slug-obvious
tactics--no holes, just ripping out the petioles!!

I'm on my way with bait in hand--thanks again, Paul!!!!

I don't think I have ever seen slug damage like that,if that's what it is! Are you sure? It looks like something with bigger teeth than a slug has,unless you have a slug on steroids! Phil

I'm thinkin' cutworms.

I think cut worms too...
They do a number on corn roots and also on hosta petioles.
Linda C

Your Plantagenia damage is sowbugs. Just b4 I snapped this pix, dozens of sowbugs were munching away, but scurried as I lifted the leaf. (Camera shy?) Diatomaceous Earth is recommended to eliminate them.

I had something like that last year and it turned out to be voles.

Jeez, Janice,you got one of every answer. :( I'm having the same problem and don't know who is doing it...

...except that the chipmunks / voles just killed two more plants, beautiful little 'Kiwi Blue Baby' which I had raised since they were, in fact, babies.

My hostas are breaking my heart this year, between the many winter losses of both mature and mini plants due to animals, and now, what I fear may be a virus, maybe even HVX, on a couple of leaves at opposite ends of a very large yard (no tool sharing, either).

So winter, possible virus, fresh kills from burrowing animals... and then the over-the-top emotional responses I got re spreading a humane natural deterrent (yes, pepper!) to keep the mammals away certainly didn't help. I have never enjoyed my garden less than this year.

I guess you're going to do D-earth and slugbait and... wait, you already did the Sevin. Yikes!

Janice, I second Paul's suggestion of slugs. I have found them on the base of the petioles doing the exact damage Paul's photos show. I've never had much leaf damage, but they love to drop the whole leaf from the petiole base. I have it happening now to my Iron Gate Delight. I'm going to try the ammonia cure. I've had Sluggo out for a few weeks. Lois

Oh my! Maybe it's a combination of ALL you've suggested!!!! I definitely have found that sow-bugs DO munch on
hosta--seen it as Maryann testified to have discovered.

I'd be surprised if it WERE voles, since my understanding is they prefer to attack from beneath the plant,
but ANYTHING is possible I guess! AND, I did find that slug 'marching across the top of a leaf' yesterday!

So, put out my 'baited' bottles (for the voles) and diamataceous earth, and I'll dump some
ammonia water first just to make sure I cover all bases!

And, Lisa--my heart goes out to you on so many levels!! I am so sorry you are not enjoying your summer
in the garden. I pray, there is joy elsewhere if it's just not going to happen in your garden and please,
forgive us when we've 'attacked' you for trying to preserve what you have in a method you hoped would be
effective and more humane than poisons!! I think we can forget that we're all just TRYING to create a
perfect garden, in our own ways and we will ALWAYS fall short of the original intention of a garden, because,
after all, WE are in it, and so are a lot of the other 'creations' that can wreak havoc on it!!! :o/

THANK YOU, one and all for your thoughts and suggestions! I think I'll try them ALL! Probably too late to
undo the harm done to my two large clumps of 'Plantaginea' (across the yard from one another) and 'Capt. Kirk'
looks like 1/3 of 'him' needs 'beaming up' cause he's mostly down right now!

Slugs, and their pals the sowbugs, together. I have been witnessing them doing the same thing you took pictures of. We had an incredibly rainy June here in NJ & I was finding 2" long slugs on the *top* of 6' tall Oriental lilies, eating the flower buds. I have never had damage from them on chrysanthemums, or on daylilies, before, either, but I have this year!

I dealt with them by going out in the early am, 6 -7 to be exact, before they had crawled back to their hideouts. With a bowl half full of water, with 1/2 tsp Palmolive dishliquid added. And a strong temperament. I handpicked them every day.

Around the 4th day I had been getting so many I decided to count---in the 20 x 8' stretch alone, next to the driveway & between a lilac bush & the mailbox, I got 191 one morning. In the grass, too. Swarms of them.

I had some oral surgery on July 9 & could not mess around in the garden or bend over without throbbing pain in my mouth, so quit the slug patrol for a while. We also have had a stretch with much more sun, and I think that has helped.

I ran the patrol one evening, too, just after it got dark, and got plenty but not as many as when I was doing early morning. At night I was finding them curled up in the base of the petioles, chewing away happily.

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so now that I have recovered, I will be back out there and see how many of them there are. I have noticed while I couldn't bend down that there was much less damage the last week.

Unless you find slug hunting somewhat entertaining or educational, your time is worth more. The smallest bag of Deadline lasts me for several seasons, gets most of the slugs within 24 hours, and is way more cost effective than Sluggo or other slug baits. A few pellets per plant every month or so replaces the tedious hunting. I'm sold.

What is Deadline? I googled it and got nothing.

Google 'Deadline slug', there are 62,400 entries. The little blue pellet form can be found at farm supply stores. I fashioned a shaker container that allows just a few pellets per shake.

I second (or maybe third it) the use of Deadline. I have used it for years now and never have a sign of slugs. I still have a small issue with cutworms in June, but used Sevin at the very first sign this year and that took care of it. I still have my share of the chipmunks and squirrels and plenty of earthworms so I don't worry about using it. I get a 50# bag from the farm co-op and keep it in a closed container and it keeps it strength (effectiveness). Vicki

It's NOT sowbugs. Sowbugs seek shelther under rocks and dead leaves and other humid places. They eat decomposing matter, NOT living tissue!

It still is the season for cutworms, here in Iowa. Yesterday I was planting hosta seedlings. Found a huge cutworm, at least 2 inches long. YUCK, they are ugly also. Cutworm damage appears to be much larger than slugs.

Is Deadline for cutworms also? Would be good to find a product that takes care of both.

Janice, thank you for the kind words and the morale boost.

Maryann Chgo, I'll be looking for Deadline! I am not a candidate for the hand-picking method.

ofionnachta, you made my blood run cold with your description of them going after six-foot-tall lilies. I didn't know they were interested in lilies at all.

'Uroboros'--I beg to differ, (I don't mean to be contentious) based on what I've seen *with my own two eyes*!
I have found them munching away--*caught in the act*, on the petioles of my hosta, many times throughout the
past 3 years!

They and slugs are actually rather 'cute' to me--but not nearly as endearing when making a meal
of my plantings--and, sadly for them--since they do what they are 'programmed' to do, like it,
or not!!

For further info about them--see the link below!! Read specifically what is said under 'Food'! and
'Impact on the Ecosystem'! :o)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sow Bugs aka 'Pill Bugs' in the south!!

The reason, I am not SO SURE it's only the Sow Bugs munching off my petioles,
is that in times past, when I did observe them 'munching', it was on the sides of the petioles
the length or edges of the 'stalks', a sort of *crudités* w/o the dip, for them--apparently!

Janice, the stem work looks like cutworm to me

Lisa, I have had tribes of chipmunks running all over my hosta stems this year. I watched them till I got fed up with their knocking down the stems. I started to trap them and caught 41 in less than three weeks time. I have never had so many chipmunks as I have this year. . and yes, they were VERY destructive. Get a small live trap from your farm store and bait it with sunflower seeds. That will do the job.
My neighbor has a big woods a few roads over and gets lots of cat drop offs. She wanted me to release them and build up the food chain.

Maryann, thanks for the tip on Deadline. . I'm going to check it out.

Amazon sells Deadline.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deadline Slug Killer Via Amazon

OK,Janice,here's yet another opinion,from just today. I found a leaf of my Abiqua Moonbeam lying flat on the ground. I grabbed the leaf,since it was a goner,and found a slug right at the place where it fell away,looking like it was munching on it! So,I am changing my opinion to slugs!! Phil

lisa, thank you for the Amazon Deadline link.
Pat

You're welcome, PatAnn. I'm still hoping to find it locally so I don't have to pay shipping, but my neighborhood is not as rural as it used to be.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deadline Slug Killer Via Amazon