Geranium Bud Worm

Ah, my old nemesis...

Well, not really. Actually, truth be told this is the first geranium bud worm, also known as the tobacco bud worm, I've ever seen, let alone caught and squished. I really should have feed him to the chickens but I was too lazy to walk down back, honest.

Can you believe the nerve of this bug? As you can see it's done a pretty good job completely eating one of the buds. As Vlad would say, 'cmon man' (but with a Russian accent).

I've spent quite a bit of time pruning these geraniums - we have 5 plants in 3 different colors in 2-gallon pots. I dead-head the passed flowers, as well as remove the dead and yellowed leaves. The plants themselves are tired and winding down. They're not as green and full as they once were but they're still blooming today. Regardless, they're not available for dining bud worms.

Here is the dude shortly after I picked him off the flower and just minutes before squashville. Oh, that's a boo-boo there on the outside of my palm. I suffered from a blond moment and cut myself with a pair of hand pruners. JoAnne thought stitches were needed but we settled on liquid band-aid instead.

The bud worm is a serious pest to many garden flowers. They feed on the buds and petals of many commonly grown flowers, including the geranium, petunia and nicotiana. The adult stage is a moth with the caterpillar becoming full grown in about 1 month. The insect survives winter as a pupa in the soil. Where soil freezes deeply, most overwintering insects are killed. With New England winter right around the corner these critters don't stand a chance...