Lavender (Lavandula spp.) is a popular garden plant, valued for its calming fragrance, vibrant purple blooms, and drought tolerance. Gardeners choose it for its aesthetic appeal and low-maintenance nature. Despite its strong scent and essential oil content, which deter many common garden pests, lavender plants can still become a target for certain animals and insects that consume their foliage or roots.
Common Pests That Eat Lavender
While lavender’s aromatic properties make it unappealing to many creatures, some pests consume parts of the plant. These can be broadly categorized into mammalian pests and chewing insects.
Mammalian pests, such as rabbits, deer, gophers, and voles, can feed on lavender. Deer avoid lavender due to its strong scent and bitter taste, making it a common choice for deer-resistant planting. However, in periods of food scarcity, deer might nibble on lavender, especially younger, more tender plants. Rabbits dislike lavender’s strong fragrance and taste, though they might target young lavender plants for their fresh growth.
Gophers and voles pose a direct threat by eating the roots of lavender plants. Voles are herbivores that tunnel just below the soil surface, feeding on roots and bulbs, which can severely damage a lavender plant.
Chewing insects occasionally feed on lavender, despite its deterrent qualities. Slugs and snails consume leaves, stems, and flowers, creating irregular holes. They are deterred by strong, aromatic scents like lavender’s, and the plant’s woody stems and oily leaves can make it difficult for them to crawl across or chew.
Grasshoppers are generalist feeders; though they do not prefer lavender, they have been observed chewing on stems, which can cause the stem to break or arch. This damage is minor, as grasshoppers move on to find more suitable plants after a few test bites. Certain caterpillars can also feed on lavender foliage.
Protecting Your Lavender
Recognizing the type of damage can help identify the culprit affecting your lavender. Deer browsing results in jagged or torn edges on leaves and stems, while rabbit damage appears as clean cuts on young shoots or stems. For underground pests like gophers and voles, signs include wilting or dying plants due to root damage, or visible tunnels and mounds in the soil around the plant. Slugs and snails leave irregular holes in leaves and may leave behind slime trails.
Implementing physical barriers is effective to protect lavender. Fencing at least 8 feet tall can deter deer, while a 2-3 foot tall chicken wire fence, buried 6-12 inches deep, can keep rabbits out. Individual plant cages made from hardware cloth or chicken wire can shield young or vulnerable lavender plants. For voles, burying quarter-inch wire mesh around plants, 6 inches to 2 feet deep, can create an effective barrier against their tunneling.
Various repellents and cultural practices can help. Commercial repellents with putrescent egg solids or hot pepper can deter deer and rabbits, requiring reapplication after rain. Homemade sprays with cayenne pepper, garlic, or dish soap can be applied to foliage. For slugs and snails, spreading crushed eggshells, sharp sand, or diatomaceous earth around the plant creates an abrasive barrier.
Manual removal of larger pests like slugs, snails, or grasshoppers is an option. Ensuring proper drainage and air circulation around lavender plants contributes to their overall health, reducing susceptibility to stress and pests.