Smelly Viburnum eaten

I noticed a terrible smell along side our house and after a long spell noticed most of the leaves had been eaten .The smell was like something rotting.

I happened across a few members of the Victoria Master Gardener Association at a table in front of a Buckerfield's store in Saanich who helped identify leaf samples and a worm I had in a bag.

They ID the plant and mentioned a beetle and suggested using BTK as was mentioned by an employee at Mitchell's farm sales outlet in Saanich. I sprayed the BTK and it rained shortly after. A gain the following morning , more rain.

My question is, can the plant be salvaged or does it have to be dug up and destroyed?

 

Was the diagnosis viburnum leaf beetle? We have it on a few plants here -- it hits one of our native species the hardest. We ended up cutting those shrubs back to the base, but that hasn't seemed to be effective--the new growth continues to be attacked by beetles a couple years later.

To more directly answer your question: you may want to defoliate your plant or cut it back to the base this year to deal with the unsightliness if that's an issue, with the hope that the infestation won't return next year. Or, you can remove the plant and seek something out that has a higher measure of assurance of being problem-free.

 

Hi Daniel that is what the diagnosis was. I think perhaps another problem may be crowding. Looks like a removal.


Thanks for the reply.