Hello I have been in battle for about three years, your hibiscus has Thrips and could possibly have Hibiscus gall midge. I have 20ft x 15ft hibiscus (tree). I have been dealing with this for several years. The gall midge is easy to tell put your fallen buds in a ziplock bag and look at bag after 12 to 24 hrs you will see tiny yellow worms. I find the larve like to go to the top of the bag where the zipper is. Thrips are usually the reason for cut looking buds. I personally never had a cut worm attack my hibiscus they like other stuff in my yard better. Spraying the tree will work for the Thrips Bayer 3 in 1 is good but unfortunately the Gall Midge is way more difficult. The adult midge is a tiny fly they lay eggs on in the new buds the egss hatch and the larve eat the inside of the bud, when the bud falls to the ground the larve immerge from the bud into soil where they remain until they are adult midges and fly, then the entire cycle starts all over. Treating your hibiscus with a systemic is the best way to rid your hibiscus, but fallen buds MUST be picked up. I go shake my hibiscus several times a day trying to get the buds before they fall off on their own. Those worms in the picture are gall midge larva. The midge larve is capable of jumping several feet. I just recently had my hibiscus trimmed of 90% of the buds and I'm currently using a two part control system treating soil and treating the tree with two different insecticides off setting each weekly. I hate pesticides but all my other avenue's of natural control or mild cotrol have failed miserably so this is my last ditch effort. The most common insecticide that is a systemic is Imidacloprid the same stuff my neighbors use for ficus whitefly and I believe that my midges are immune to imidacloprid. I wish you luck and hope you only have Thrips.

My terrarium is a pretty small one, only about 6 x 24 and sits in a south window in no additional lighting. At the moment there are; Drosera Capensis and a couple of other Drosera hybrids, Two Nepenthes hybrid cuttings, a bunch of clover looking things which I don't know where they came from, A Heliamphora Minor X something or other, 4 or 5 kinds of Utricularias, a couple of Sarracenia hybrid seedlings and a Sarracenia Leucophylla which is pretty stingy and limp looking because it has been growing in there since I started the terrarium a year and a half ago with no resting period. also a couple of small ferns but I have no idea what kind they are. Some are in pots a few are growing in the substrate. I originally wanted to have it as a natural setup but over time its become the place I put stuff that need a higher humidity which runs about 70% to 80% at temps ranging from 55f to 90f depending on the time of year and day. The whole thing is over due for a major overhaul. Just to answer a potencial question in advance, The Heliamphora Minor X something has grown at these temps all last summer at 90f +/- a few degrees from about 3/4' to over 2" and is still going well at the current 58f Yeah, I know Gesthemene, I've gotten a few things from there. I've never had any problems with anything I've gotten there unless I did something studid with the plant before it started to go wonky on me. I have a Nep Alata about two years a go from them and its growing good except it has no traps because the humidity is too low. and it is two big for me to put in a terrarium.

This reminds me of an infection with the Violet gall midge (Phytophaga violicola). The small fly lays eggs in the curled margins of the unfolded new leaves. When these eggs hatch the maggots causing greater curling, distortion, and twisting of leaves. Either remove the affected leaves by handpicking or try Imidacloprid (Consult the label). Gerd Knoche Germany

Samuel and Jim- definitely something to think about. But Moses might have rose midge because neighbors have it in their gardens. How do you control what your neighbors do or don't do? Look at how RRV is spread. Some posters here have written almost crying in despair of neighbors having diseased roses yet refusing to do anything about it. I hate using pesticides but I want to try to get this under control before it takes over my garden. I live in a very rural neighborhood. The nearest house is about 300 feet away through the woods. I think I'm the only rose grower on our road so the rose midge have had to come in from either a nursery or mail order roses unless they eat native plants too. We don't even have any multiflora rose near my house. So I may be able to contain this by using all the methods available and due diligence in the future. Rinsing all the soil from my mail order roses and possibly full submersion in water for a short period of time or buying bare root own root roses. I'm also using the cups and covering the planting area with plastic or landscape fabric. Some of my roses came with spider mites a couple years ago. I had never had spider mites before. The only pests I had were aphids, grasshoppers, JB's and voles, can't forget the voles. Sharon