bud worm?

[Pachrian]

This morning I noticed that one of my Cinnamon Girl's many buds seemed to be chewed off at the top. I decided to remove it as a precaution and when I opened it up I found a little worm/caterpillar inside. It was about 1/3 of an inch in length and clearly unhappy that it was outed.

Does anybody have any idea what this might have been and what I might need to do to prevent further bud-loss?

Thanks!

[Charlie]

Hi Uli,

Welcome to the forum. Pretty 'Fallen Hero' bloom you showed us!

This caterpillar in the bud is a rare problem here in southern CA. I don't know that I have ever seen such a thing here. We do see butterflies and moths flying around the blooms at times and sometimes caterpillars are found on leaves. There is an organic spray solution for caterpillars if they ever get bad enough. It is made from a type of bacteria that will kill the caterpillars but otherwise does not harm. The Safer Company makes one such product called something like BT Caterpillar spray. BT referes to the bacillus (bacteria) that is in the product.

If you can take some photos of the effected bud(s) I'd like to see what it looks like.

Charlie

[Pachrian]

Charlie, I will definitely take some pics next time (if there is a next time...I hope not!). This little guy reminded me of geranium bud worms, but I didn't see a hole in the bud like with geraniums. In this case the top of the bud seemed chewed off, or maybe it was simply deformed because of the worm inside?

Lol, "bacteria that will kill the caterpillars but otherwise does not harm"

[Pachrian]

Unfortunately I had a chance to take some pics of a bud worm yesterday. I can't remember if the one from back then looked the same, but this one is 4mm long and super fast.

[Pachrian]

Charlie, you asked for pics of the buds. The buds are pretty butchered by the time I find the worm because they are still very small when they drop. I'd say they usually look perfectly fine from the outside, no holes or discoloration, which is why I opened them to see if they had anything going on inside.

I found some more pics of a different looking worm from back in May. This guy is definitely plump compared to yesterday's.

[helixturnhelix]

Yikes, I didnt find any worms, but those look like cabbage moth caterpillars.

[Pachrian]

A few days I noticed a hole on a Bridal Path bud, so I wasn't all too surprised (still bummed, though!) when I found it on the ground this morning.

The inside is quite unhealthy and rotten looking, as was the larva which had the unfortunate fate of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when I sliced through the bud 

[Charlie]

There's a fairly easy fix for caterpillars eating leaves (spray with bacillus thur. aka BT) but worms and such in flower buds is a tougher problem. If not too many buds are affected I probably wouldn't do anything but wait them out.

Charlie