Daisies are cherished garden flowers with bright, simple blooms. However, these attractive plants can become a meal for various garden creatures. Understanding what is eating your daisies is the first step toward protecting them.
Common Pests and Animals That Eat Daisies
Slugs and snails are frequent culprits, identifiable by irregular holes they chew in leaves and petals, often accompanied by silvery slime trails. These nocturnal mollusks seek damp, cool hiding spots during the day, rapidly consuming young seedlings and tender growth and causing damage overnight.
Caterpillars, the larval stage of moths and butterflies, cause chewing damage, leaving large, ragged holes in daisy leaves, stems, and sometimes flowers. Species like cutworms and cabbage worms are known for their appetites, often confirmed by finding small, dark fecal pellets on lower leaves. An infestation can hinder the plant’s growth.
Aphids are soft-bodied insects that feed by sucking sap from the plant, rather than chewing. They cluster on new growth and the undersides of leaves, causing them to curl, distort, or yellow. Aphids excrete a sticky substance called honeydew, which can lead to sooty mold growth and attract ants.
Larger animals like rabbits and deer pose a threat to daisies. Rabbits have sharp teeth and make clean cuts on stems, often targeting tender new growth. Deer lack upper incisors and tend to tear and pull at plants, resulting in ragged edges on damaged stems and foliage. Both can cause damage to entire plants or patches, sometimes overnight.
Other daisy eaters include grasshoppers, which create irregular holes in leaves, and earwigs, known for chewing holes, especially on petals. Thrips are slender insects that scrape petals and leaves, leading to silvery streaks and deformed flowers. These pests can contribute to plant stress.
Protecting Your Daisies
Maintaining good garden hygiene deters pests from your daisies. Regularly removing leaf litter, excess mulch, and other garden debris eliminates hiding spots for slugs, snails, and other insects. Proper watering, such as in the morning, reduces the damp conditions slugs and snails favor during their nocturnal activity.
Physical barriers can protect your daisies. Installing fine mesh netting or row covers can shield plants from flying insects and larger animals like rabbits and deer. Fencing at an appropriate height can prevent access to your daisy beds, with deer requiring taller barriers than rabbits.
Organic deterrents can also be used. Diatomaceous earth, a natural abrasive, can be sprinkled around plants to deter slugs, snails, and crawling insects by dehydrating them. For aphids, a direct spray of insecticidal soap or a strong stream of water can dislodge and control infestations.
Regular inspection of your daisy plants allows for early detection of pest activity. Hand-picking visible slugs, snails, or caterpillars can reduce their populations before extensive damage occurs. Encouraging beneficial insects, such as ladybugs and lacewings, can help manage aphid populations.