tveguy3 said:Ok, The whole pod was infected, but one chamber had less of the festering wholes then the other two. I gave it 2 cc's of stable spray, the only insecticide I had handy. I put some in each chamber. I think it may be too late, as I noticed these last week. Should have asked sooner. This is the first time I've given a shot to a plant, lol, and it was really hard to get the liquid into the pod. I really had to use force. Just call me Dr. Tom! 
I will let you know how it turns out. I wonder if the same systemic that we use for borers would prevent this?
I assume the systemic you are referring to is Imidacloprid (Merit)? It doesn't seem to work on these pod boring insects. I don't use Imidacloprid anymore, too much collateral damage on bees, but even when I did a few pods would be infested by these insects. What I do now is, once all of the flowers have faded and the pods are starting to swell, I go around and spray each pod with Carbaryl (commonly sold as Sevin, among many other brand names), just enough to get it well wetted. Insects have to actually chew on the plant to be affected by Carbaryl, so it's unlikely to harm non-target species. I pretty commonly see tiny "chew marks" on the pods where it looks like something tried to eat its way into a pod, but died before it got in and I haven't lost a pod to insects since beginning this approach.
Verbena Bud Moth usually gets fingered as the culprit in these cases, but the pictures I've seen of Verbena Bud Moth larvae don't match the larvae I've actually found inside my pods. I suspect, at least in my garden, it was Iris Weevil that caused the damage. Iris Weevil is a better match for the larvae and the frass that they leave behind is remarkably similar to what you see in plums or cherries that are infested with Plum Curculio, which is also a type of weevil.
