Damage on peony buds and leaves? Help with identifying problem

6 years ago

I have 2 different herbaceous peonies that have generally been pretty low maintenance. This year, one of them have unfortunately been covered by a plant that have overgrown and I didn't notice til too late. I managed to save it, but it has since been plagued by something that is damaging its leaves. It managed to produce flower buds, but then many buds were getting damaged/eaten by something, so I pruned most of it off. The peony next to it have been quite healthy until now - and I noticed the same thing happening to it. You can see something has taken a bite out of the flower bud! This peony's leaves have only had a few holes in them, definitely healthier than the other one. Could this be slugs? I also found a lot of these little green flying bugs around the peonies (and only the peonies...I have other plants in the garden that they don't seem too interested in). I have never seen them before but there are many of them. They fly and jump everywhere with any movement so it's impossible for me to spray them (I was trying to use an organic insecticide). But I'm not even sure if this is what's damaging my peonies.

Does the bite look familiar with anyone? I would appreciate any suggestions! I have some red flower buds that are about to open and am trying to prevent them from getting damaged as well...

Featured Answer

BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA

6 years ago

The insect looks like a leaf hopper, which is a sap sucker, so not likely the culprit.

Perhaps an earwig for the damage?

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Comments (10)

Adelaide (Z8b Canada)
Original Author
6 years ago
Hm....I did see one or two black insects perching on the leaves....but I'm not too sure if they are earwig or not. I sprayed some Safer Insecticide, hopefully that'll work! Thanks!
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Earwigs are very distinctive. Easy to Identify if you look at an image. They hide by day.
lizbest1
6 years ago
There seems to be much more of this kind of damage this year, seeing a lot of questions about it on the FaceBook peony groups. Think earwigs were identified as the culprit. Some of the buds looked like something had bored straight through them, never seen anything like that before.
Adelaide (Z8b Canada) thanked lizbest1
Adelaide (Z8b Canada)
Original Author
6 years ago
Yes that's pretty much it! What I saw was either a half hole or half the bud was gone. I don't think I saw any more damage after I used the Safer insecticide...I mean I don't really mind if some of my leaves are gone but the buds! That's crossing the line....

I guess there must be some infestation of earwigs this year...I wonder if it's affect the whole North America? Or just a specific region
BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
6 years ago
My guess would be that the mild winter plus the cold damp spring made more earwig friendly conditions around.
Adelaide (Z8b Canada) thanked BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
maifleur03
6 years ago
Just a hint if you think slugs are the problem look for their slime trails.
Adelaide (Z8b Canada) thanked maifleur03
Adelaide (Z8b Canada)
Original Author
6 years ago
I didn't see any slime trails, unless I wasn't looking carefully enough? It seems to have stopped (for now) and the flower buds are still growing. But the weather is getting cold and rainy again for the next week or so, so we'll see....

If there are indeed slugs, they would attack my other plants as well? Or they are attracted to my peonies only because they are the ones in full bloom?
maifleur03
6 years ago
My comment was a method to discount slugs as the cause of this since that is one of the most frequent things people think of when they see this type of damage. Also to give a suggestion for something to look for if a person thinks they have a slug problem. Slugs would attack anything that they think is tasty and everyone has them. They do more good than harm since they eat the microscopic things that can cause diseases.

Beyond earwigs on another site people have found small green inchworm type things that apparently feed during the night in some of the areas that have been eaten. Whether they caused the initial hole or were just taking advantage of a soft food source is unknown.
Adelaide (Z8b Canada)
Original Author
6 years ago
@maifleur03 Sorry I clearly completely misunderstood your comment! I think I will have to observe a bit more...I noticed a few more damaged areas today. There has also been some rainy lately so maybe some moisture loving bugs are coming out again....