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who's chomping on my cannas?

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posted 3 weeks ago

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I just noticed these holes today.
There have been japanese beetles on them but that damage is lacy looking.
This is so even and symmetrical!

At first I thought it had been chomped while the leaf was still unfurled but they've been open awhile and I look all the time since they are blooming finally...and I think the holes would be different then, not as even.

There was a small grasshopper and an ant on the back of a leaf ...maybe a leafcutter ant?

any ideas?

I really like the holes so am not looking to punish the chomper...I just would like to know who did such a methodical pattern.....some are almost rectangles, squared off rather than round holes.

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"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
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Tereza Okava

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posted 3 weeks ago

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how very strange, it almost looks like something stepped on them, almost like a grid in some parts. was there a windstorm where maybe something could have hit into them and caused the damage?
(to my knowledge leafcutter ants always start from the outside in, I've never seen them start inside a leaf)

Judith Browning

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posted 3 weeks ago

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Tereza, The leaves are fairly rigid so if bent they would not have revived upright if blown over....had not been thinking of an imprint but I can't think of anything that would have done that near by?

Will have to inspect with a non bug something in mind...I do have a short circle of fence around the base...

It's noticable on two leaves...the one on the right not as neat but still in rows.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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posted 3 weeks ago

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I just looked around and there's nothing 'non bug like' that might have made that pattern.
I first checked the short bit of fence at the base of it and it's heavy hogwire...no little pokey things in a pattern.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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posted 3 weeks ago

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Well, maybe,
canna leaf rollers?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canna_leaf_roller

might not be this far north.

No leaves are rolled....

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Tereza Okava

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posted 3 weeks ago

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oh wow, but the images I'm seeing in an image search are really similar!!!
https://www.birdsandblooms.com/gardening/garden-bugs/canna-leaf-roller/

And she says she didn't expect to see it in Ohio, but there it is!

canna-leaf-roller-damage-plant.jpg

Judith Browning

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posted 3 weeks ago

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yep, it's around here....

Brazilian skipper butterfly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calpodes_ethlius

The wingspan is 45–61 mm. Adults are on wing in late summer in the north. There are several generations from April to December in southern Texas, two generations from July to November in Arizona. Adults are on wing throughout the year in Florida and the tropics.

Adults feed on Lantana in Arizona. In Costa Rica, adults have been recorded feeding on the nectar from large white or pale yellow flowers of woody lianas, trees and shrubs.[citation needed]

Larval hosts include Canna spp., in which the larvae roll or fold the ends of leaves into tents.[2]: 312

I still don't quite understand...they roll them selves in the leaf and then at some point eat their way out, then the leaf unfurls like nothing happened?
pretty cool.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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posted 3 weeks ago

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you got it Tereza!

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

May Lotito

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posted 3 weeks ago

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When my corns have army worms before the leaf unfurls there are holes like that.

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

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Judith Browning

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posted 3 weeks ago

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Now that I know who does this I'll watch this unfurled leaf for signs of occupancy!

IMG_20260729_070534_745-2.jpg

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Tereza Okava

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posted 3 weeks ago

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I have red cannas that grow as, uh, pests, I'm usually busy trying to rip them out before they set seeds! I'll need to start looking more closely, I've never noticed this type of damage (or this butterfly, which by the name would seem to be from around here). They are sooooo invasive, I put in one plant years ago and now the entire neighborhood has them (the seeds are quite good at rolling down the street and making it to other yards).

Judith Browning

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Tereza, I never thought about them being invasive although I do see large clumps and hedges of them around here.
What's that saying...something like "One woman's '________' is another woman's '_______' ?

I've been trying to grow them for years!
Apparently they like more water than I've been willing to share during the droughts here.
I finally planted these at the edge of the porch drip line where I would also love a screen from sun and the street...there is a mowed path in front of them so maybe they won't go far?

One year I collected seed and got some sweet little baby cannas but they did not winter over.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Tereza Okava

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posted 3 weeks ago

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they must like just a notch more heat (i'm in 9b). as far as I can tell they don't die from the minimal frosts we have (although they do tend to grow in places that are a bit protected, near walls, etc- they push their own zones!) and until today I had no idea anyone liked to eat them- the pests inevitably go after my passionfruit that grows right next to them.

Judith Browning

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posted 2 weeks ago

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I was too late to see who crawled out of this leaf...

IMG_20260731_130914_093-2.jpg

IMG_20260731_130931_251-2.jpg

IMG_20260731_131038_063-2.jpg

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

May Lotito

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posted 2 weeks ago

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The last one looks like from a chewing insect like grasshopper. Japanese beetle also feeds on cannabis but leaves a lacy mesh.

I lifted some smaller plants and grew them in pots to overwinter. They made little progress due to low light but recovered quickly once I put them in ground, saving time starting from seeds. The stored rhizomes didn't survive somehow. I do see people having cannas near the south facing walls coming back every year.

Mines are just the basic types, nevertheless, I love the tropical vibe they bring. There are a whole lot of new varieties with interesting leaf patterns. Here is the clump now surpassed by the young Indian blood peach.

20260801_130618.jpg

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

Judith Browning

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posted 2 weeks ago

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May, here's that last bug damaged leaf unfurled...it's the middle one of the three damaged ones.
Same type of critter I have not seen anybody coming or going.

Cannas overwinter outside here once established...my little seedlings didn't have enough mass yet I think.

Our son here in town has a hedge of them he's had for years and he divides every few years ...they are beautiful.

I'm hoping these do ok with the porch foundation as some winter protection and it faces south east. I think I'll mulch heavily also.

I don't know varieties but that must make some difference?

Your peach looks great!

IMG_20260801_153833_917-2.jpg

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Jean Finley

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posted 2 weeks ago

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Tereza Okava wrote:I have red cannas that grow as, uh, pests, I'm usually busy trying to rip them out before they set seeds! I'll need to start looking more closely, I've never noticed this type of damage (or this butterfly, which by the name would seem to be from around here). They are sooooo invasive, I put in one plant years ago and now the entire neighborhood has them (the seeds are quite good at rolling down the street and making it to other yards).

If you are a gardener, these are green gold!!! Just chop and drop (with a machete or even pruners), then place the green material around your other plants--used as a mulch, it adds lots of organic material to the soil. I grow cannas specifically for this purpose.

Vernon Antoine Brou Jr.

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posted 2 weeks ago

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there are two main lepidoptera species which feed upon Canna leaves. One is a large skipper butterfly which is mostly active at night Calpodes ethlius and a small pyralid moth Geshna cannalis.

If you plant it (Canna) they will come. Decades back I planted 300 Canna roots here at my home specifically for the purpose of obtaining lenghty series of adults of each of these two lepidoptera species. 100% success. These two common pests occur over much of the USA and numerous more tropical countries.

Calpodes ethlius appears feeding on Canna leaves by enclosing themselves within a large folded leaf and the larvae feed hidden within the folded leaf and pupates within the same leaf, later (1-2 weeks) emerges as an adult butterfly. The very small pyralid moth (G. cannalis) also feeds hidden within the Canna leaf, but the larvae does not fold over the leaf, instead it rolls the leaf into a tightly small circular compartment where it feeds and later pupates in the same leaf. Later (1-2 weeks) it hatches out as an adult moth. Heavy infestations of G. cannalis will result in adults appearing later in the year in the daytime flitting about on the outside of the Canna plants in sex filled orgy.

I have jpgs of all these species discussed here, but I cannot attach my personal images here. - Won't let me. Neither of these pests adults are colorful. Want to see the adults of these two butterfly pests, simply google the scientific names I provided here.

Vernon Antoine Brou Jr. Abita Springs, Louisiana, USA

Judith Browning

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posted 2 weeks ago

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wow! Vernon, thanks for the detailed post!
I'm totally new to cannas and this chewing pattern is striking to me.

I will watch for more activity....the last leaf to unroll had fewer nibbles.

I don't notice deliberately rolled leaves though, only new, unfurled ones that later show damage when they open.

What did you do with all of those plants?
Seems like 300 would quickly fill a yard😊

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Cara Cee

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Location: South Florida

posted 1 week ago

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You're lucky it wasn't a saddle back caterpillar. Gary had the unfortunate experiences of twice being stung when he brushed against Cannas in a pot on out patio. He thought it was weird being stung by a bee without seeing or hearing a bee, and then when it happened at night (which would not have happened with a bee, we thought), we investigated the next day and found the vicious-looking crawlers.
I had never seen or heard of these before!

They really hurt, and they like Cannas

Judith Browning

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posted 1 week ago

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Cara, I hope we don't have those here!
I'll have to find a picture of one.

I did not know cannas had their own particular bugs!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddleback_caterpillar

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Tereza Okava

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Location: South of Capricorn

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posted 1 week ago

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judith, you'd definitely know. that is a 'take a picture' kind of bug if you have it in your garden.

although... maybe not. We have a lot of dangerous caterpillars here and something I learned from having an insect biologist as a kid is that the poisonous spines don't just somehow disappear when the bug dies. If a bird grabs it or something squashes it, those spines can hang around for a while. Most of the time when I 'get caterpillared' I can tell that I brushed up against one on a leaf or a bush, but there are times when there's definitely been nothing around. It left its spines on a table or floor or clothesline. This is why around here you don't hug trees or walk barefoot.

saddleback-moth-by-Heatherelle.jpg

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