I noticed that at least 5 shoots (the oldest ones) started dying. After checking them, I noticed something like sawdust powder behind shoots sheath on top. Looks like bug had to take a dump. I noticed all shoots were hollow, eaten from inside, from top down. Top 2 to 4 inches were eaten completely, which means shoots are going to be... shitty . I didn't find the monster that did that, which means it "ran" away already or picked another shoot.

Anyone seen anything like that? What could I do to prevent other shoots from getting destroyed? So far all the shoots larger than 4 inches got demolished. I haven't noticed any problems on nearby Fargesia plant that is much larger with much more shoots.

Help

COuld it just be some dieback/disease from the cold winter you guys had in Europe?

Nope. This seedling is still in pot, because it could not survive our winters. It's growing vigorously, but it seems something is eating it even faster. I removed all the damaged portions of the shoots and found nothing inside, except their manure .

I keep this bamboo outside most of the time and it got infected around a week ago. I'm keeping an eye on it, just to make sure smaller shoots survive. If not, I'll try to find the strongest pesticide available and drown whole thing in it. Now with warmer weather, other predators should emerge and take care of possible herbivores. At least I hope so.

Ah ok..... that makes sence then!

I didnt see you mention if you treated it already or not. You can try a super strong mix of dishsoap (sunlight works best IMO). The oils in it tend to suffocate anything on it. I would use half a teaspoon to one spray bottle of water. Yes, this is super concetrated. Its usually recommended one small drop in a whole bottle, but this seems to detur rather then eliminate.

One thing though, just make sure after an hour or so you rinse off the plant WELL, and flush the pot to get rid of the soap. The soap suffocates the bugs, as well as the stomata underneeath the leaves, and can suffocate the plant as well.

canadianplant: Maybe I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're combining two different insect killing methods: insecticidal soap, and horticultural oils. Insecticidal soaps involve using a soap (not detergent like dish soap -- has to be a soap, like Murphy's oil soap) to break down some aspect of the insect's anatomy and kill it. Horticultural oils smother insects. As far as I know, detergents don't contain oil.

That being said, every year I knock Japanese beetles into a tub of soapy water (suds created from dish soap), and that kills them. They may just drown though.

If the dish soap spray works on "everything" that's good to know too.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

It's raining lately but I check it every day. Well today I got lucky if I can say that,... I found the beast.

I looked at some of the smaller shoots, since the large ones were already destroyed. I noticed that one of them was suspiciously thick in the upper part of the shoot and soon found out a hole and bunch of droppings inside it. I touched the culm down to the soil level and noticed it's completely hollow down to the soil level. I grabbed it and pulled the whole shoot out. I took it inside to inspect it a bit closer. I'm attaching photos.

The size of it is... the terror! I think that one mofo, the killed one, destroyed all those young shoots. 2 cm in a shoot that was perhaps 5 or 6 cm tall. It was just as thick as the shoot itself! I hope there are not more of them - if there are, I think I can say goodbye to all the shoots.

On the brighter side - I've noticed several new shoots emerging from the soil. Perhaps all the devastation triggered new shooting cycle.








Anyone knows how to fight this one? What kind of butterfly (moth) this is?

Looks like army worms to me. They tend to love attacking moso out of any bamboo and there will usually be only one worm per leaf as eggs are typically layed one at a time. My screen picture has a picture of one of these guys on a moso leaf.

If you use thuricide on them, it will usually kill them all off.

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Just found two more caterpillars on the same plant! Both on top of the shoot, seemingly dormant. Perhaps they would start their metamorphosis soon, since they were even larger than previous one and became a bit more grey in color.

Hopefully I managed to get rid of all them, but I kind of doubt it. There are still several shoots that might make it through. Hopefully.

I'm 99% sure this is the same bug that attacks corn around here.We call it European corn borer.