Coneflowers not getting petals - Ask Extension
Hello, my conflower garden is 1 year old. Last year I had beautiful flowers on every stem. This year, the petals seem to not be growing. The center...
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Coneflowers not getting petals #875134
Asked June 28, 2024, 3:14 PM EDT
Hello, my conflower garden is 1 year old. Last year I had beautiful flowers on every stem. This year, the petals seem to not be growing. The center seems bright and strong and the leaves and stems too. You can see tiny petals on some of them and none on others. A VERY few have half- sized petals that possibly something is munching on? Also, I will include a picture of a leaf that has a mud ball attached to the bottom of it.
I have been watering every few days, the ground is not soggy naturally, I didm't fertilize or even mulch this year- the present mulch is from last year. Let me know if you need more info! Thanks!
Anne Arundel County Maryland
Expert Response
Sending again as I forgot to mention that the 'mud balls' are the very cool creations of a type of potter wasp. A female makes those perfect little pots that she provisions with a paralyzed spider (the only thing she uses her stinger for) and lays her egg on it before putting a little lid on there. When the egg hatches her baby eats the spider.
Well, that is frustrating and widespread.
There are multiple suspects for missing petals- beetles, earwigs, slugs, snails and beetles. We can see one small, shiny black beetle on top of a green flower, about a third of the way down towards the right in your first photo. They most often bite holes in the petals just as they are unfurling though.
Given the rainy/cloudy periods we had recently we are hearing about high populations of earwigs and damage from slugs.
Both eat at night so we suggest taking your flashlight and taking a look after dark.
Here is more about Slugs and Snails and how to manage them:
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/slugs-and-snails-flowers/
and Earwigs:
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/earwigs-flowers/
There are a couple of Coneflower issues to be aware of. One is a mite (not really concerning) and the other is Aster Yellows, which is more rare but requires plant removal:
https://bygl.osu.edu/node/2191#:~:text=The%20handiwork%20of%20an%20eriophyid,name%20or%20approved%20common%20name.
Christine
Well, that is frustrating and widespread.
There are multiple suspects for missing petals- beetles, earwigs, slugs, snails and beetles. We can see one small, shiny black beetle on top of a green flower, about a third of the way down towards the right in your first photo. They most often bite holes in the petals just as they are unfurling though.
Given the rainy/cloudy periods we had recently we are hearing about high populations of earwigs and damage from slugs.
Both eat at night so we suggest taking your flashlight and taking a look after dark.
Here is more about Slugs and Snails and how to manage them:
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/slugs-and-snails-flowers/
and Earwigs:
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/earwigs-flowers/
There are a couple of Coneflower issues to be aware of. One is a mite (not really concerning) and the other is Aster Yellows, which is more rare but requires plant removal:
https://bygl.osu.edu/node/2191#:~:text=The%20handiwork%20of%20an%20eriophyid,name%20or%20approved%20common%20name.
Christine
