what eats my pansy heads?
By Songbird
United Kingdom 
song bird again, over the past 2 years whenever i buy pansies or violas, something, destroys the new flowers before they open up, just the top part of the forming bud, which then dosent open ,what is doing this?
6 Nov, 2008
Answers
hi spritz ive also been told that it my be a small bug and that by putting a spray of water with ash from fags may stop this, as i dont smoke not very easy to do. I do have a lot of sparrows in the garden . song bird
7 Nov, 2008
Hi Songbird, I too have this same problem, also with primulas, I don't have Sparrows but many baby snails which I think are the culprits. During the Spring I did use Slug and Snail Pellets, which I am loathe to do, and the flowers were fine, but as the snails slept in the climbers on the walls, I found clematis buds half eaten, as the snails slid across and back and not on the ground where I had sprinkled the pellets!! You could also use beer traps in the garden to drown them. Good luck!
7 Nov, 2008
No, I don't smoke either. I think I might try slug pellets as I do suffer from snails. Thanks for the thoughts.
8 Nov, 2008
Same here, Songbird. I strongly suspect sparrows. I suffer from snails here, but there's no trace of slime and it's only the flowers that are ruined. I am at my wit's end. I bet you are, too. I might try sticks and black cotton round a selected few plants just to see if any flowers will open.
6 Nov, 2008