My canna has a leaf with a set of 9 holes in a straight row, all symmetrical with each hole a bit bigger than the one to its right. Any idea what's causing this? I must say that we've been greatly amused with our yard this summer--it seems like every day there's some new critter or discovery.
I found the following information in The Gardener's Guide to Growing Cannas by Ian Cooke (Timber Press, 2001):
"Cannas seem to be particularly attractive to slugs and snails and can be totally devastated by them. Unless you control them, expect young leaves to unfurl with cut patterns like a child's paper-tearing exercise!" (This is a Britishism for what we think of as papercutting, like paper snowflakes.)
The easiest approach to slug and snail control is to use the newer generation (organic garden-acceptable, but not good to use where runoff will enter lakes and streams) slug baits which are wheat gluten-based pellets with iron phosphate as an active ingredient (such as SlugGo and EscarGo).
You can also try the following non-chemical controls (traps, barriers, natural predators):
Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, click on link to read document.
Season
All Season
Date 2009-07-09
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