What's eating my dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait'?

Dahlia 'Café au Lait' is a magnet for aphids, earwigs, thrips, and slugs. The large decorative blooms also attract capsid bugs that distort petals and foliage. Earwigs hide inside the open flowers overnight and are a near-universal dahlia problem. Vigilant weekly inspection and earwig trapping are essential through the growing season.

Ragged holes in petals and notched leaf edges; insects hide inside flowers during the day, feeding at night. Trap in rolled damp newspaper or upturned pots filled with straw placed near plants; empty traps daily; apply barrier gel on stakes.

Colonies on soft new shoots and below flower buds; sticky honeydew, black sooty mould, and distorted growth. Spray with insecticidal soap or neem oil; manually remove colonies; install reflective mulch to deter migrants.

Silver-streaked or bronzed petal and leaf surfaces; tiny dark frass specks visible; blooms fail to open fully. Apply spinosad or insecticidal soap weekly; use blue sticky traps to monitor; remove and bag affected blooms.

Large irregular holes in young leaves and stems at ground level; silvery mucus trails visible in the morning. Scatter iron phosphate bait around tubers; use copper collars or crushed eggshell barriers; handpick after dark.