Have you seen any earwigs? I can't tell for sure if the black specks in the top damage are poop. If so it could rule out slugs and is typical of earwigs. You may need to go out after dark with a flashlight to see them. If it's earwigs you may also see them early morning with their bottoms sticking out of daylily blooms' throats.

https://daylilies.org/daylily-...

sooby said: Have you seen any earwigs? I can't tell for sure if the black specks in the top damage are poop. If so it could rule out slugs and is typical of earwigs. You may need to go out after dark with a flashlight to see them. If it's earwigs you may also see them early morning with their bottoms sticking out of daylily blooms' throats.

https://daylilies.org/daylily-...

Thanks, I have noticed a few slugs on some Dahlias I have planted in the beds. Will check on the earwigs.

Went out after dark with flashlight. Not too many earwigs, but lots of small slugs.

alma47 said: Went out after dark with flashlight. Not too many earwigs, but lots of small slugs.

If there are smallish dots of black poop it is more likely earwigs that are doing the damage. I think slug poop is more elongated. It's hard to tell what the black spots are in your picture. It's also possible to have both doing damage. But I would think either of those is potentially your culprit because the petal surface is eaten off, so it has to be a pest with that kind of feeding behaviour.

Could it be a katydid? I kept finding a katydid on my Big Smile plant last year, and several of the blooms looked chewed on like yours. This year the katydid seems to like landing on Insider Trading, but so far, no damage.

Hi Alma,

If you saw small slugs and no earwigs, I'd go with slugs fed on them. The scattered holes eaten completely through the petals and along the edges look more like the damage slugs do. The surface scraping is more like typical earwig damage but certainly could be done by small slugs. It's possible to have both at work but if you don't see earwigs, they're not necessary to cause what you showed.

Pat

alma47 said:

This remind me the one I sent you. I don't have it anymore.

This is what grasshoppers/locusts will do to a bud

Dave @SunriseSide

Wow! Was it a large grasshopper? What kinds of locusts do you have there?

Did you have a lot of damage like that? I can imagine a swarm of this kind of grasshoppers or locusts being pretty devastating!!

Pardon my lateness I just now came back to this thread and saw your pic.

Pat

We have a lot of all sizes of grasshoppers/locusts green and brown...have no clue as to what variety. They infest the wild area in the adjacent powerline ROW.

Do you see that kind of damage a lot? I can imagine they'd find daylily buds a lot juicier and more delectable 😋 than grass!

Pat

Edited to delete exact duplicate of post above.

Thx for thumb TouchofSky, I didn't see it before I deleted this.
Pat

Hortaholic said: Do you see that kind of damage a lot? I can imagine they'd find daylily buds a lot juicier and more delectable 😋 than grass!

Pat

Mostly they like the top colored surface of the open flowers. Some leaf damage. Rare pod & bud damage.

Looks like slug damage to me.