Petunias with tiny black eggs all over it

Question

What pest could this be? I see a spiders on one of them, but 30+ ft away, a different petunia has same eggs or whatever on it. What could I spray to get rid of, or help the plant to get rid of this? What could this be?

Answer 1

There is a caterpillar called tobacco budworm that can lay eggs on petunia. Here is more information:

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/tobacco_budworm.htm

The best plan at this point would be removing and discarding the affected leaves from each plant. If you get them all, the bugs will never get to your plants.

Caterpillar frass (poop) is usually black and can be mistaken for eggs. In this case you would see damage to your petunia leaves. Hand removal of the caterpillars and/or neem oil is recommended:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/pesticides/neem-oil-uses.htm

Petunia seeds themselves are usually black and can get caught on the leaves of fuzzy varieties.