What's eating my typhonium brownii?

Typhonium brownii is a small Australian native aroid suited to shaded garden beds. Slugs and snails attack soft emerging growth most aggressively. Aphids may cluster on tender new shoots in spring. Being a compact ground-level plant, it is also vulnerable to caterpillar feeding in warm months.

Ragged holes in new leaf blades and spathes at soil level; slime trails across surrounding mulch. Apply iron-phosphate bait around the planting zone; use crushed eggshell or coarse grit as a deterrent mulch.

Distorted, sticky new growth; small pale or green insects clustered on petioles and spathe. Spray with insecticidal soap or diluted neem oil; introduce or conserve ladybird and lacewing populations.

Large irregular holes eaten from leaf margins or blades; frass (dark pellets) visible on leaves and soil. Hand-pick caterpillars in the evening; apply Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) spray for persistent infestations.