What Is Eating My Sedum Plant?

Sedum plants are known for their hardiness and their succulent leaves. Sedums are grown as low ground covers, tall complements to the perennial flowerbed and in borders and rock gardens. Most pests leave sedum plants alone, but several insects and animals may occasionally eat a sedum's leaves and flowers.

Aphids are the most likely suspects for feeding on and disfiguring your sedum plant. Either the black sedum aphid or the melon aphid may be hiding beneath the leaves and buds of a sedum plant. Introduce ladybirds, which are aphids' natural predator, to reduce aphid damage.

If your sedum has c-shaped indentations along its leaves' edges, adult black vine weevils are probably eating it overnight or during cloudy days. Weevils' white larvae may also feed on roots. Separate infested sedum from other plants and pluck adult weevils, which cannot fly, off your sedum by hand.

Mealybugs resemble little bits of cotton. They gather in colonies to pierce and suck leaves' juices, leaving your sedum yellowish and limp. Introduce ladybirds to help control mealybugs, and remove infested sedum plants from surrounding plants until your sedums regain their health.

Slugs and snails are fairly indiscriminate eaters, and they have been known to eat holes in sedums' leaves, destroy sedums' stems or eat whole sedum seedlings. Remove slugs, snails and their spherical clear eggs whenever you spot them.

Animals like deer, rabbits and cats are not typically interested in sedum plants, but depending on how hungry they are, they may eat a sedum on occasion. Some cats enjoy chewing a sedum's fleshy leaves. Put up fencing to prevent animals from eating your sedum plant.