HYB: Verbena Bud Moth larvae

While harvesting Iris seed pods the last couple of days, I noticed several 
that had holes in them from Verbena Moth Larvae.  This is nothing new, 
they are really common here.  Something I hadn't noticed before is that 
most had entered the pod right where the dried flower was curled over 
and touching the pod.  I remove these dried flowers when harvesting the 
pods, and that's when I noticed the holes in the pod, the dried flower 
was hollowed out and filled with dropping from the grubs.  I'm 
wondering if the moth lays it's eggs on the flower and then the eggs 
hatch and the grub burrows into the pod?  I wonder if it would help to 
remove the dried flowers from the pods earlier?  When I find the holes in 
the pod, I removed the grub.  Most of the time there would only be one, 
but on some there were several. On some of the more dried pods, the 
grub had already turned into a cocoon.  I did notice a few pods where 
the grub had entered toward the bottom of the pod, where the remants 
of the sheath were, droping were more visable.  Most pods that were 
properly cleaned of the sheath and the dried flower had remained away 
from the pod (usually still up in the air), had no grubs.  I harvested over 
150 pods this year, the most ever for me.  Has anyone else ever noticed 
this?  I'm also curious if Verbena Bud Moths are common all over the US?
Will Warner
SW MO
Zone 6

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