Dispite spraying my geraniums they have been infected with the dreaded Geranium moth. The initially covered with brown spots the leaves then wither and die. So now I an left with geraniums with few flowers and even less leaves

My question is; can the plants recover. Or should I just get rid of them and start again.

Are you sure it's the moth?

It usually affects the stems of the plant when the larvae burrow inside them. The telltale sign is if the stem looks bad and you cut into it - then it will be black inside.

You can rescue the plant if you cut out any affected parts of the stem. Geraniums reshoot very quickly so it is probably worth saving if it was a well established plant. If it's a small one, buy another - they are very cheap.

To protect the plants from the moth they must be sprayed every 2 weeks during the summer.

Mmmm...Thanks for that Fred.

I'm not sure now. It just seens to be the leaves that have brown spots on them then the go brown an crumble????

Sprayed with what? Mine are rubbish too.

Fred, thanks for the tip. I like geraniums too, so would like to know how to protect them.

Is it a general insecticide, or a specialised one?

Polly, if it is only the stems that are affected, cut them close to the ground and burn the cuttings.

I sprayed mine with Doctorplant Insecticida Geranios. But like i said it don't sound as though it is the moth that has caused this problem.

Well, the manufacturers would have you believe that you need a specialist insecticide.

Complete rubbish - it's only a small caterpiller!

I use Decis by Bayer and that works fine and is much cheaper and is a good general purpose insecticide. I also combine Decis with another systemic insecticide (which lasts for a month or more) called Confidor (also by Bayer).

They are expensive to buy but they are very concentrated so they go a long way. The worst deal are these "spcialist" Geranium sprays, ready to use in a spray bottle. If you have a fair number of Geraniums and spray them every 15 days they will cost a fortune.

OK, thanks for that. A friend out there told me the price for one 1 litre bottle of a good one, and I nearly soiled myself. It does go a long way, as it gets very highly diluted, but ouchie!

Yes, a one litre bottle of Decis is about 35€ but it will make 2000 litres of spray! That should last a few years!

You can get it is smaller quantities.

The bottle I was shown was far more than that!

That's great guys. Can you direct me to a Decis supplier. Will I be able to buy it at a garden center. I live in Benissa

You should be able to get it in a garden centre but it will probably come in very small bottles. Even then it's still cheaper than the ready made sprays.