Slugs may destroy my life
Rampant climber
Posts: 9
Hello all my lovely gardening folks.
I've tried everything. nematodes pellets beer the lot.
last year my garden was destroyed by slugs. My lovingly nurtured dahlias were eaten to the ground in one night. No delphiniums survived. Green brands disappeared while I was at work one day. In short I came to a point of deciding to give up gardening.....I actually cried over the dahlias....and I don't cry very often. This year I have decided to have one more go.
I have compiled a list of plants slugs don't like. I have bought hardy geraniums, nepeta, salvia, astrantias, sangiusorba and penstemons, lavender, poppies, etc etc daisies.... I have over 50 very small tender plants to plant out today ; ))))
dont know why I'm sharing this, just want to let someone know.
Pray for me....
Posts
You're current list of plants looks much more slug proof Rc. Don't give up, just get tough stuff, make a different sort of garden.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Killing slugs is very satisfying. I didn't realise how satisfying until I started gardening, I thought gardening was a restful pastime (and it is by and large), but you get garden envy, and a pathological urge to kill slugs and snails (or is that just me?). Barriers are very good, they don't like getting their tummies lacerated by gravel, it does need to be quite a wide barrier though as some of them will arch over it if they can to get to tasty plants. My weeding knife is never very far away, and I chop them in half whenever I come across them. One thing that has been recommended on here is a length of guttering upside down (making a nice dark cool place for slugs to shelter during the daytime), pop outside before you go to work, and either scrape them off into a bucket of salty water, or chop in half and leave as a buffet for the birds.
Don't give up on your dahlias. Get a nice big pot, copper tape around the bottom and top, may have to put a double ring around it if you've got mahoosive slugs, it gives them a nasty electric shock (something to do with a reaction between copper and their slime), and stand the pots on a wide, deep bed of the scratchiest gravel you can find, that should help.
This is a great place to share gardening triumphs and tragedies, slug threads always get quite lively, after all, where slugs are concerned, it is WAR!
KBO.
There are things you can do. Start early on St Valentine's Day (because it's easy to remember) or as soon as any snwo clears and scatter wildlife friendly slug pellets thinly over your borders. These will get the first slugs to emerge from hibernation and also any new hatchllings. Repeat the scatterings every two weeks or after heavy rain to get the next lot and stop them all breeding and feeding.
Once plants like hostas and dahlias emerge, use a garlic spray to deter slugs and keep up the regular scatterings of pellets. This advice comes from a hosta nursery owner so should be good.
Garlic spray for hostas and other susceptible plants and seedlings
2 Bulbs Garlic
2 Pints Water
Instructions
Crush 2 bulbs of garlic
Steam or boil in 2 pints of water for 3 to 4 minutes until blanched
Strain mixture and make back up to 2 pints
Leave to cool
When ready to use, mix one tablespoon into a gallon (3.8 litres) of water. Sprinkle on to leaves in late afternoon (in dry weather). Reapply every two weeks.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Halcyon is a really nice slug proof hosta.
Just to echo the previous post, the garlic spray is excellent and really works. I always reapply after heavy rain. Just try not to spill it on yourself, the smells a bugger to get rid of. Coffee grounds are also very good on the ground around the plant but why not do both!
Talking of slugs... I remember my first introduction to gardening when i was six or seven.My mother would send me out with a tub of salt,specially after rain.Happy days
...I'm afraid I'm just the opposite to some in that I don't kill anything in the garden, knowingly... greenfly, slugs the lot... however living next to barren land it's quite easy for me to throw slugs and snails over the fence as no one lives over there and they must recover from that trauma... I never use chemicals of any sort and prefer to grow plants that can withstand any attacks. I tend to go slug hunting about 10pm or so, scoop them up and over they go...
...is anyone else like that..? or are we a rarity in this day and age...
Rather than coffee grounds try spraying with coffee. Non-decaf though as it's the caffeine that kills them. Not an approved pesticide though so regard it as a foliar feed..
No you're not alone Salino.Snails take a short flight onto the grass the other side of my garden wall. No doubt they come straight back but i have the satisfaction of making them use a detour to get to my plants and any small slugs i rely on the frogs and hedgehogs to keep in check.There's been a few times i've had to put up with lace Hostas but it's worth it
Pellets are the only thing for me, and I grow loads of hostas (in pots) and dahlias. I also have a garden full of birds.
Hi Rampanr climber.
About three years ago, we had loads of slugs, snails in our family garden.
I tried to get rid of slugs,snails for ages and in my experience throwing them over the fence does not work,as they keep coming back.
I don't use poisons,
So what i did was get an ice cream tub, put it on the path and fill with boiling kettle water, used a poop scoop to scoop the slugs up and dropped them in,(snails just pick them up by their shells) leave the tub until cool anuff to pick up.
Then i looked around the garden for a bare plot, dug a deep hole 2ft wide,2ft to 3ft deep, just empted the tub into the hole and put anuff soil back in the hole to cover them up.I did the ice cream tub thing, covering them up with abit of soil everyday for aweek,then planted a nice shub on top.
Never had much trouble with them again since.
It saved bagging them up and helping the already over filled landfill sites.
Now i know alot of people may think that i'm barbaric,evil, everthing else under the sun and everbody is entitled to their own opinion.
But just to let people know, i have a dog that i love with all my heart and he is getting on now and i don't want him to get lung worm.
I also lost hundreds of plants.
I hope this helps
.