Whats eating my hydrangea

Ciara111

I bought a hydrangea plant from B&Q. It was in a bit of a sad state as it was in the sale bit, got it for 1.99, regularly 5.99 (med sized plant). Took it home, watered it and put it in some compost and its doing really well. Except lately Ive noticed that something is eating a few of the leaves. As I was investigating.. a little "greenfly" flew out (almost into my eye). Otherwise the plant looks healthy... Lots of big green bushy leaves. Does anyone have any tips on how to care for the plant or know what could be eating the leaves?Its come along so far would hate to loose it now.

EDIT: "greenfly"= little green flying insect

tawnyowls

Could be greenfly, but you don't usually see them actually flying. How big was it? Greenfly (aphids) usually cluster on new growth to suck sap, but they don't generally do visible damage to the leaves, so it sounds like it's more likely to be either slug/snail damage, caterpillars, or (heaven forbid!) vine weevils. If it's sort of irregular gouges in the leaves, likely to be slugs/snails, holes indicate caterpillars, and nibbly chunks around the edges vine weevils; see here:http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/problem_solver/top_pests.asp

Need to have a good look, especially on the backs of the leaves. Tapping each twig makes caterpillars roll up so they're more visible. To spot slugs or vine weevils, a torchlight foray is advised.

Would you be able to upload a pic of the damage so it can be assessed?

Lord_Gardener

Hydrangea are ideal food for winged aphids - their most common pest ( check for others of course!). Leaf feeing aphids will suck sap from the leaves causing them to become punctured and ultimately deformed if not treated. The aphids population will build rapidly if not treated. Treat by using a forcefull stream of water to wash the aphids away. A very dilute soapy solution (5ml washing up liquid in 1L of water) may be required for those which won't initially wash away. Last resort is to use an insecticide such as 'Bugclear', but this will affect natural parasites and predators which you want. Inspect and repeat cleaning process as required until end of season to reduce/eliminate aphid population especially those egg laying females producing next seasons over wintering batch! NB the aphids will weaken the plant if not treated, leaving it vunerable to other diseases.

Ciara111

Here's a pic of my plant. Thanks for all your tips and I get the spray bottle out Lord Gardener.

tawnyowls

Well, it's definitely not vine weevil. Could be caterpillars, as the two long holes look roughly caterpillar-shaped. A spray for aphids is likely to kill them off anyway.

Ciara111

According to the RHS website I have deduced that its CAPSID bugs eating my hydrangea. If the soapy water solution doesnt work I will bring out the Bayer Sprayday Greenfly Killer Plus.

Debt_Free_Chick

Ciara111 wrote:

Here's a pic of my plant. Thanks for all your tips and I get the spray bottle out Lord Gardener.

To be honest, that just looks as though the leaf was damaged when it was growing. There's no other obvious sign of anything eating it.

If the very young leaves get a little damage, even from clumsy hands, then it's exaggerated when the leaf develops fully.

Your plant looks in fine fettle to me