Jennifer,

In my garden, which also has a huge variety of flowers like yours, this happens a lot. Here in our location, it is usually sow bugs or pill bugs, also known as roly-poly bugs, wood lice or doodle bugs.

Check the ground, especially early in the morning or around twilight and see if you see any of them. Or, lay down a board or shingle on the ground very close to the flower bed. They will congregate under it to get out of the heat of the day and, when you lift up the board, there they will be. If you have them, they probably are what is doing the damage.

If you have roly-poly bugs, there is a product actually made for snails and slugs but it also kills sow bugs and pill bugs. It is organic and safe for use around pets and wildlife. The one I use most often is called Slug-Go and I've linked a recent discussion about it and wood lice for you.

It could be something else, of course, but in our yard, only sow bugs and pill bugs eat the marigolds.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Previous Discussion of Wood Lice (Pill bugs)

Clouded Sulphurs and Orange Sulphurs, and I think Dainty Sulphurs will use marigolds as host plants, too. They mainly prefer white clover and red clover, but have been known to use marigolds. The foliage should grow back, though, and they don't usually eat much.

Of course, there are other caterpillars (like cut worms and army worms) that will eat a plant down to the ground. That happened this week with my new Asclepias purpurescens. I have two, and if that other cut worm gets it, it will be "death" to the larvae cause I WILL find it.

A lot of caterpillars feed at night and then go off somewhere else during the day to hide. So you may never find the culprit.

Susan

Thank you! I suspect it might indeed be the roly-polys. I know there's a BUNCH in that plot of land, although this year as I come across them I've been tossing them into the yard. Ha! It just figures they'd leave everything else alone... I'll have to keep an eye out for Slug-Go or something like it at Lowe's or Walmart here.

I found the Garden Safe brand at a Home Depot recently, and I think I found one brand or another at Wal-Mart last year, although I haven't seen it at Wal-Mart this year.

Just remember, the key is the Iron Phosphate. The newer Slug-Go Plus (formulated and sold as a control for snails, slugs and pill bugs and similar crustaceans), which I found in a nursery last week, is a combination product with iron phosphate and Serenade, both of which are OMRI-approved. Remember--you don't want the chemical slug killer that has metaldehyde as the active ingredient--it can be deadly to pets and wildlife.