Peony root chewing insect S.O.S.


Hi all..

One of my readers on the Suite has come up with a problem I've never
encountered.  Seems some boring type insect that closely resembles and Iris
Borer is eating the roots of his herbaceous Peonies.

I've never had any insect problems on my Peonies...and never some nasty
critter eating the roots.  Before he goes and douses the world with Cygon
in an effort to get rid of them before they completely destroy his stand,
I'm trying to help identify this beast so, at least, we can verify that
Cygon would be effective against it.

I've done some web searches and not come up with any root borer that feeds
on Peony.  It seems to me that it can't be iris borer (Macronoctua onusta )
because, from what I have been able to find, they are host specific to tall
bearded iris.

Since I'm making no headway on my own, I thought the best course was to
throw this query out to all of you in the hope that someone may have
encountered it and know what to do.

Have any of you ever had this problem?  Does anyone know what insect this
could be?

Any and all help on this one will be deeply appreciated.  TIA

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
current article:  Late Color -  Part 2
http://suite101.com/welcome.cfm/222



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