Something is eating my iris so when they open they are full of holes. I can't find a critter, just brown mushy looking things in the centers after the blooms open. Any ideas? And what to do about it, I guess for next year

Did water get trapped in the flower causing it to rot? The beards look nice still.

No they are ate holes in the bus then ate in on the inside. The little brown mushy stuff looks like poo of some kind ??

@frillylily

i have a lot of caterpillars this year, they eat the buds, but come out at night. during the day they have been hidden. i saw 2 kinds an all black one with a yellow stripe on either side, and a motley brown one that looked a lot like a cutworm.

I have never seen that before, wish I could help but I haven't a clue. I know it is so disappointing!

We have, here, a small, green "beetle", that chews into the buds, and the damage looks similar....they occasionally bore into the seed pods, as well. Normally , they don't show up, here, until later in the season ...maybe the same bug, or something similar

Here there are black beetles that come every year. But you can see them, pick them off and squish them!

I forgot what they are called, but I call them iris beetles, as they seem to favor them over others.

Something is eating my iris buds I have never had this problem before. Only the red bugs which ate the leaves. I would squish them by hand.

Yikes, something else to wreck our irises.

It's odd, but DH is making me go through my huge pile of old magazines, including the Iris Register. I just read today (in an old issue) about somebody complaining about finches attacking their irises! This brings to mind Ratchet and his/her recent battles with the quail, who were also attacking the irises.

So, you might want to try Ratchet's remedy and string a bunch of CDs, or something else shiny and flapping in the wind, around the irises, and see if that helps.

Francesmays. Folks on this forum have mentioned deer occasionally nip buds.