Hosta's effective slug/snail management?

[cordyman]

I'm finding if I don't put pellets down every 3 days, i'll end up with munched leaves, so this weekend I put 10mm grit around the bases, yet to see if its effective I might try and find some finer fish tank style grit, or would sharp sand on top of the 10mm grit work better?







Finally what are your thoughts on munched leaves, the tidy gardener in me wants to prune it off, yet better for the plant to photosynthesize if remains left on?

[Delboy]

I havent tried this but they reckon to boil some garclic cloves and then put the boiled water (once cooled ) into a spray bottle and spray the plant. Apparently slugs hate garlic.
Only reason ive not tried it is in case its smells bad, i love garlic but not sure i want my garden reeking of it.

Last year my Hosta's were munched bad, more holes than plant.
This year they've been ok so far with just the odd plants with a nibble or 2. The potted ones that i put gravel in have not been touched.

[Delboy]

Oh forgot to answer your leaf Q. I leave mine, unless they look really bad.

[Dim]

In my own garden, I use pellets every 4 -5 days .... it's only £4 for a pack, but well worth the money .... I use 3 packs a month (so far)... and I don't have much planted, as I only recently moved here

if I dont use pellets on my veg patch, I wont have any veg left this year .... my garden has zillions of slugs/snails

in some of the gardens where I work, and where I have planted hostas, I give a good sprinkling of pellets weekly ... so far, so good .... all hostas are unaffected

[Blairs]

Garlic does work, but it is systemic, so you need to spray it every few days to keep the garlic aroma on the Hosta.

I find a copper scouring pad (u can get from Tesco and the like) cut it up and ring it around the plant works. You can half bury it.

Not tried it but hair clippings are supposed to help - same theory as your small stones, slugs do not like to crawl over things that stick to them.

[Mr List]

gravel won't do anything,
there are lots of things in garden centres, the range etc.. that you can use to put around plants.

I thinking some are a type of wool pellets called slugs be gone.

I forgot about the garlic spray, I was going to try that last year but never bothered.
bowdens hostas website has a recipe.

[Kristen]

My neighbour has broken slate around hers. She swears that fixed the problem, and hers always look immaculate ... not tried it myself though.

[dino]

Firstly mine are all in pots which seems a deterrent in itself. Secondly I put them near the bird feeder so birds pick up the stray slug/ snail as they feed.

[fern Rob]

I should think hat sand would stop them from getting to the plants.

[cordyman]

Thanks Del, think i'll leave them on then, the garlic trick sounds just as high maintenance as the slug pellets LOL

I like the idea of the sound of copper scouring pad, or any kind of permanent barrier I can put around the bases stop them getting to it in the first place

[Mr List]

copper slug rings?

[cordyman]

copper slug rings?

can they be used in ground planted hostas, I thought they were only for pots?

[cordyman]

gravel won't do anything,
there are lots of things in garden centres, the range etc.. that you can use to put around plants.

I thinking some are a type of wool pellets called slugs be gone.

I forgot about the garlic spray, I was going to try that last year but never bothered.
bowdens hostas website has a recipe.

Need to check out these wool pellets, they sound good

[flounder]

I've tried (and failed) over the years to find an effective treatment for slugs and snails. What works for one person, fails miserably for someone else. The only real effective method of not being overrun, is to not grow any plants
I've used grit, sand, egg shells, garlic, organic pellet, mini blue pellet, vaseline, slug pub(the dog drinks it!), grapefuit hollowed out, picking by hand on all fours 2am in the rain, C4(sodium chloride), nothing will totally eradicate these annoyances. All I can hope for, is to reduce the damage.....not easy when you find the occasional hosta munching 6 inch slug. These things can level a slug resistant plant overnight.
I grow a lot of other plants that seem to attract them, like cytisus and lobelia.
Will I stop growing snail food? no. Just the same as I won't stop growing lily beetle food. It's a case of being vigilant and accepting the consequences of growing stuff.

[Kristen]

copper slug rings?

can they be used in ground planted hostas, I thought they were only for pots?

Not tried them, but there are rings that you can put around plants:



http://slugrings.co.uk