My hosta is being eaten by something at the moment, but unsure as to what? I use nematodes, to get rid of the slugs, and haven't really seen many slugs/slug trails around this year?
I think Hosta's right about the nematodes. We have huge snails here, and it's very satisfying picking them up and flinging them...
If you have nay plants in pots - or even just empty pots - check round the rims for them during the day or early evening. They like to lurk there, and also in certain plants. They enjoy hiding in my phormium foliage among other places.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
My sister uses a variety of 'methods' to get rid of the little blighters. Copper tape stuck round pots - apparently the slime on the critters reacts in contact with the copper and gives them a jolt. Just make sure there are no slugs or snails in the pot before you attach the copper tape - it could stop them leaving the pot !
My sister's more effective method is a beer-trap. She sinks a container into the ground (jam jar etc) and fills it 3/4 with beer (cheap stuff will do). They love the smell, get drunk, fall in and drown.
Her last resort is slug pellets which don't seem very effective - seem to attract every little varmint within a one mile radius !
I've found that although I've got them in my back garden, they are mostly absent from the front, so that's where I have my hostas, marigolds and dahlias.
Eric's Mum, I don't pamper my slugs even with cheap beer. A jamjar full of warm water, a few teaspoons of sugar, and one of baking yeast, leave it in the kitchen for a few days. I find they drown themselves in this just as readily as in the real thing, and it's much cheaper.
/slug trails around this year?
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I've never used nematodes, but my understanding is they don't work against snails. I might well be wrong.
Go out with a torch after dark and get the bleeders.
Sara, have you read"The little book of slugs" which you can buy from the Centre for Alternative Technology? It gives dozens of ways to deal with them.
Thank you both, so you think it is snails/slugs?
I will go out this evening to see if I can get the little
blighters :-)
I think Hosta's right about the nematodes. We have huge snails here, and it's very satisfying picking them up and flinging them...
If you have nay plants in pots - or even just empty pots - check round the rims for them during the day or early evening. They like to lurk there, and also in certain plants. They enjoy hiding in my phormium foliage among other places.
My sister uses a variety of 'methods' to get rid of the little blighters. Copper tape stuck round pots - apparently the slime on the critters reacts in contact with the copper and gives them a jolt. Just make sure there are no slugs or snails in the pot before you attach the copper tape - it could stop them leaving the pot !
My sister's more effective method is a beer-trap. She sinks a container into the ground (jam jar etc) and fills it 3/4 with beer (cheap stuff will do). They love the smell, get drunk, fall in and drown.
Her last resort is slug pellets which don't seem very effective - seem to attract every little varmint within a one mile radius !
I've found that although I've got them in my back garden, they are mostly absent from the front, so that's where I have my hostas, marigolds and dahlias.
Eric's Mum, I don't pamper my slugs even with cheap beer. A jamjar full of warm water, a few teaspoons of sugar, and one of baking yeast, leave it in the kitchen for a few days. I find they drown themselves in this just as readily as in the real thing, and it's much cheaper.