I have been having some mysterious pest damage. There were chewing on the top of the stems (not at ground level) and killing the young shoots. It affects my astilbe but also the near by wisteria (at fence height). When I do evening check on cut worm population with a flash light, I can't seem to find much at all. Yesterday I found same type of damage on my spirea in pot. Can anyone help?
It does look like the work of cutworms. I get similar damage to new grape shoots and have always assumed that it was due to cutworms because I find them regularly while weeding around the plants in the area.
