Dahlia problem.?

As a fair-weather gardener I have not been very active recently. And I have just found that the stems of a number of my dahlias have been cut (chewed presumably) near the tops of the plants. Are the culprits likely to be slugs/snails or black/green fly? (All are usually found in my garden about this time of the year.) If the pests are slugs/snails, why do they need to climb to near the tops of the plants when they could do their dirty deeds near the bottoms? Some of the leaves have also been chewed, but no caterpillars or butterflies have been spotted. Please advise. Thanks.

Dahlia problem.?
If they're slugs, you shuold be able to see a silvery trail left behind. Also, check at night with a flashlight, that will tell you for sure. You may also have leaf-miners as opposed to caterpillars. They appear on the inside tender part of the leaves where the females lay their eggs on the underneath of the leaves. Check for tiny black specks.


For slugs/snails you could put a collar-ring around the bottom of your flowers. Just cut them round out of cardboard, with a slit and hole cut in the middle, put on the stem near the ground. They can't climb up the plants. Diazon will control leaf miners - caterpillars too for that matter.





good luck
Reply:Japanese Beetles munch indiscriminantly making Swiss Cheese holes in leaves. They are about done now.





Snails and slugs will leave a lovely slime trail.





Grasshoppers also vigorously chew vegetation.
Reply:slugs do enjoy decaying leaves, but they also enjoy climbing up to find the tender leaves above. i spent countless nights hunting for them underneath the leaves of one of my vines which happened to be very precious to me because it is the larval host plant of a species of butterfly that i raise. if your problem is slugs, i suggest you hunt them too,...and spread a lime-barrier around your dahlia. they'll be safe from slugs.
Reply:Do you have deer around your home ??


They have not munched on my Dahlias but have had a snack on lots of my other plants.





Grasshoppers would be my second guess !!
Reply:Whatever's eating them is chewing at the top because that's where the most tender flesh is located. Down lower the stem is more tough and woody.





It could be a lot of things. Dig up one of them, put it in a pot and take it, along with one of the chewed off tops and take it to a good local nursery or to your local county extension agent. They'll have the best idea of the cause and the cure.
Reply:you could be feeding a hungry deer,they love flower leaves,check for tracks on the ground around your plants