When growing hostas in pots I recommend prepping the pots first. The ones with a deep overturned lip are best. Before planting turn the pot upside down and smear glue liberally inside the rim. Whilst the glue is still wet liberally sprinkle with salt. The pot is turned the right way round and you now have a pot with a protective salted rim on the underside that will not wash away with rain. The only downside to this method seems to be when the pot is moved and the salt rim is disturbed. Otherwise slugs and snails will not cross this barrier.
I agree with some of the comments above, torch and bucket is the absolute best method. Back in London, my garden was swamped by snails and slugs. I tried everything to get rid of them (netting, beer trap, eggshells, wool pellets, nematodes, copper tape, coffee grounds, sharp grit & sand and finally slug pellets - nothing worked). Never managed to get a single Carrot in 3 years. Being French my neighbour suggested I should treat the little escargots as another harvest and start to grow some garlic in the corner of my allotment to go with them but I still very much wanted to grow carrots. Then a friend of mine who had an allotment suggested the torch & and bucket with salted water method. At first I fell sorry for the little molluscs but I found they died within a matter of seconds. If you do this few times early in the season then will find the numbers rapidly decreasing so it is well worth a try.
In my Belgian garden I would go out on Valentine's Day or the Ides of March in a really cold winter (easy to remember) and scatter a few wildlife friendly slug pellets around susceptible plants such as daffs, hostas and clematis. Weekly repetition helped catch the worst of them as they emerged from hibernation or hatched from eggs and before they could feed and breed. The trick is to use a few and not turn the soil blue.
As I gardened, any I found were thrown in the road to be squished by passing traffic.
This system doesn't work as well on the snails which are more prevalent here but any I do find get squished.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I've just admitted defeat - just had to face it that they have won ... so now i grow only what they don't eat. Funnily enough, after doing this for a few years, there are now definitely fewer than there used to be. In fact I'm getting a bit of a soft spot for them ....🐌
Yeah we are plagued by slugs here too. One night i came in from the garden and saw something out of the corner of my eye. I glanced in the mirror and to my utter horror, there was one on my shoulder. I shrieked, i wailed, i removed my t-shirt in record time. Then i sat and wept.
For months i would freak out every time i touched something wet in the garden.
Time passed and i became bolder. Then one day i ventured out the back with bare feet. Not looking down, i trod on a slug and it squished between my toes.
"And this is one topic where I disagree with Monty - whose method essentially relies on growing healthy strong plants to ward off slugs.....firstly I don't believe him and secondly if we were all skillfull enough to grow "healthy strong plants" we woudn't need this forum."
I agree with Monty about strong plants being more resistant to slug/snail damage- they simply have more to hang on to after being munched. I use the blue slug pellets for my newly planted lettuce in my raised beds- they are under netting.
I then stop using the pellets once the luttuce is close to harvesting size and the netting comes off. Yes you do see mainly snails attached to the leaves but these can easily be picked off and there is always plenty of lettuce left for us to eat.
I'd agree with you there Igfseed - it doesn't matter how strong and healthy a plant is, when new, soft growth comes through, it's mollusc fine dining. I don't cossett any of my plants, and I tend to grow tougher plants to start with, but the amount of slugs/snails we have here means it's very difficult to keep them away. There are lots of things I no longer grow, because it simply isn't worth the battle.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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As I gardened, any I found were thrown in the road to be squished by passing traffic.
This system doesn't work as well on the snails which are more prevalent here but any I do find get squished.
For months i would freak out every time i touched something wet in the garden.
Time passed and i became bolder. Then one day i ventured out the back with bare feet. Not looking down, i trod on a slug and it squished between my toes.
Still in therapy.
I agree with Monty about strong plants being more resistant to slug/snail damage- they simply have more to hang on to after being munched.
I use the blue slug pellets for my newly planted lettuce in my raised beds- they are under netting.
I then stop using the pellets once the luttuce is close to harvesting size and the netting comes off. Yes you do see mainly snails attached to the leaves but these can easily be picked off and there is always plenty of lettuce left for us to eat.
There are lots of things I no longer grow, because it simply isn't worth the battle.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...