What's eating my café au lait dahlia?

Café au Lait dahlia, a large dinnerplate variety with pale blush blooms, is highly appealing to slugs, earwigs, and deer — all drawn to its lush, substantial growth. Its oversized blooms are especially vulnerable to earwig damage. Aphids and thrips can also disfigure the large flowers. Diligent slug control from planting and earwig trapping through flowering season are essential.

Destroy emerging shoots before they reach the surface, or chew large holes in lower leaves; dinnerplate dahlias' lush growth provides ideal cover Ferric phosphate pellets around each tuber at planting; repeat monthly; wool pellet mulch; water in morning only; hand-pick at dusk

Chew petal edges and bore into the centre of large blooms overnight, causing widespread cosmetic damage that becomes apparent at dawn Place upturned pots with damp straw on stakes among the plants; check and empty traps each morning; remove dead flowerheads promptly

Colonies on buds and shoot tips cause distortion and sticky honeydew that encourages sooty mould, spoiling the pale blooms Insecticidal soap spray; attract or introduce beneficial predators; avoid over-fertilising with nitrogen, which encourages soft sappy growth

Browse flower buds and upper stems of tall-growing plants, often removing the main growing tip, which delays or eliminates the first flush of bloom Deer repellent sprays (reapply every 1–2 weeks and after rain); motion-activated sprinkler; bed perimeter fencing if deer pressure is persistent