Gardening and Horticulture - Bouganvillas

I recently noticed small pieces of the leaves on my Bouganvillas being eaten away. Unable to see what was eating them I went to my local master gardener for help. He told me to spray them with Malithion...only do it in the late evening so as not to burn the leaves.

Well I followed his advice, sprayed them in the evening, and now 2 weeks later my beautiful bouganvillas look awful. Leaves are falling off and the ones that are left look pitiful. Please someone tell me what to do to save my plants! :(

is this a pot plant or in the ground?
if its a pot plant it will need regular water. bougainvilla will drop there leaves if they get too dry. if it is in the ground it will require full sun and likes it on the dry side when well established.

The plants are in large hanging baskets. They get water every afternoon. Could the malithion have burned the leaves? Causing them to fall?

A Petrochemical can burn a plant as delacate as the Bouganvillas yes. I have burned citrius leaves before with it.

The best thing you can do is water do not feed until the toxins have flushed from the plants system. Soon you should see small leaves & they will grow until full sized.

I do not use toxic man made Chemicals so my concern is how to rid the plant's roots, & other body parts & clean out the toxin. Malithion has a long long active life so be patient, water the soil very little & mist the stems everyday.

Buy a small bottle of seaweed liquid & use 1/2 the dose in your water kelp has a cleansing action for the root system.

Good luck
Sure would be a bad way to lose such a beautiful plant.

I also have something eating the leaves of my bouganvilla. I can't see what it is and I don't know what to do to keep it from killing the plant or leaving it leaf-less! It is planted in the ground. Any help out there?

Hello Candy Welcome to DIY :)

We have a sticky post up at the start called ( Useful Garden Links ) & it has links that have been gathered over the years. You will see links that if followed will take you to identify, determin if this is the pest, & what to use to control the real pest.

Many man made kill em all pesticides are not only dangerious but can, & have hurt our plants. Like the CDC has been reminding us lately a healthy imune systems can help prevent getting the flu, better than the Flu Shot. Healthy plants can fight off many pests by themselves however a ultra toxic Chemical brew like Malithion, can hurt your plants & kill many helpful bugs + harm mankind in the long run.

I am not trying to preach to you. I'm only trying to get you headed in the right direction. Today even the Chemical Farmers have given up on many super toxic pesticides for things like Dipel. Dipel is a natural Bio bactirium, that targets only the catapiliars that eat their crops.

Insects became imune to the man made Chemicals, & now we are turning back to many of the ways that Organic Farmers have been using for centuries. Only today we have so many Organic pesticides that there is no need to use the dangerious health robbing Chemicals of the last 64 years, when DDT first hit the Market, & poluted our waters & Farmland..

Finding a link on www.google.com like ( bouganvilla Pests ) can help you put a name on that certin pest & then you can search for ( Natrual control of hissing Beetles ) & now you can end the problem without harming the plants you want to heal.

Without pictures we can not identify the pest for you so you are our eyes to what you see & what you find in your searches. First thing is use the DIY Useful Garden Links then from there to Google for a search for a picture or name. Just copy & paste the address of what you found then repost it here in the forums so we can all see what it is.

We will do our best to help you, however we need your help also like a team, we work together, as Do it Yourselfers :)

Here is a link I hope this is helpful. http://www.heirloomgardenexperts.com/info-sheets/bougainvillea.htm
Copy and paste to search.
Barbara