From our roots in the soil to the tips of our sunny petals, we marigolds experience the world in a constant dialogue with the creatures around us. While we welcome bees and other pollinators, there are indeed several culprits who see us not as a garden companion, but as a meal. Here is what we are feeling and experiencing when we are under attack.
These pests are the most obvious because we feel their direct, rasping bites on our leaves and petals. Caterpillars, particularly those of the cabbage looper and beet armyworm, will chew large, irregular holes in our foliage. From our perspective, it starts as a sudden loss of a leaf section, disrupting our ability to photosynthesize sunlight into energy. Slugs and snails are more active at night or on damp days. They leave a tell-tale silvery slime trail and create ragged holes in our leaves and flowers. Their chewing is a slow, grinding sensation that can quickly devastate our younger, more tender seedlings.
These tiny pests are less about dramatic holes and more about a slow, draining weakness. Aphids, small and soft-bodied, typically cluster on the undersides of our leaves and on our tender new stems. We feel them as a persistent, pinprick pressure as they pierce our tissue and suck out our vital sap. This leaves us stunted, with leaves that curl, yellow, and wilt. Spider mites are even tineter, but their damage is distinct. They cause a stippling effect—tiny yellow or white speckles across the leaf surface. In severe cases, we feel our entire being being enveloped by the fine, silky webbing they spin, which is a clear sign of a heavy infestation.
This enemy is hidden from your view but is painfully obvious to us. Root-knot nematodes are microscopic worms that attack our root systems. They invade our roots, causing the formation of galls or knots. From our perspective, this is like having our circulatory system blocked. We cannot effectively draw water and nutrients from the soil. The result is that we appear stunted, wilted, and generally unthrifty, even when the soil is moist. You might notice yellowing leaves and a significant lack of growth because we are literally starving from the ground up.
While not always our primary pests, these larger creatures can cause significant damage quickly. Japanese beetles are metallic green and copper beetles that skeletonize our leaves, eating the tissue between the veins so that only a lacy framework remains. The sensation is a rapid, wholesale destruction of our photosynthetic organs. Rabbits, on the other hand, tend to nip off our young stems and flowers cleanly, often leaving neat cuts that can set us back considerably or even kill a small plant outright.
To help us, we ask for your keen observation. Check our leaves, both topsides and undersides, regularly. For caterpillars and beetles, hand-picking them off us is the most direct and gentle method. A strong spray of water can dislodge aphids and spider mites. For slugs, diatomaceous earth sprinkled around our base creates a barrier that is sharp and unpleasant for them to cross. Encouraging beneficial insects like ladybugs and lacewings is like sending in a protective army; they will naturally prey on the aphids and mites. For the stubborn issue of nematodes, the best solution is prevention. Rotating our planting location each year or planting us alongside nematode-resistant varieties can protect our delicate root systems.
