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What is eating my japanese anemones?

SplandySplandy Posts: 161
in Problem solving
The leaves and buds were fully eaten last spring so I had no flowers. Any ideas what is causing it and how I can prevent it from being eaten this year?

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  • SplandySplandy Posts: 161

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Possibly a winter moth caterpillar but more likely a mollusc, which I'd bet is hiding underneath that stone!  The new shoots look undamaged though, so maybe whatever it was has moved on?
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I'd agree a mollusc as well.  Try some copper tape stuck to a ring of some sort and drop the ring over the plant.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • SplandySplandy Posts: 161
    Does mollusc mean slugs and snails? I will have a look under the rock 😄 The new shoots seemed OK for a time last year but almost everything was eaten eventually. What do you mean by a ring over the plant? So that there is a circle all around the base of the plant in contact with the soil? Is it something you can buy?
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Slugs /snails are about the only things that nibble mine. That looks like their damage, Splandy. 
    You can buy copper rings for putting round the plants. If you ask Mr Google, he'll come up with stockists  ;)
    I don't find they eat much on mine, and we have loads of them, but perhaps last year they were attacking plants more, as the ground was drier and harder, and they couldn't get below ground as much as normal?
    Maybe you could do a bit of snail hunting each day, especially just now when new growth is there, and the molluscs are ganging up, ready to attack. Any rocks and stones are where they like to hang around during the day, as Bob says. I also get them lurking in among the foliage of things like Phormiums. If you have any pots, run your hand round the rim - you get lots skulking about there too. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Gillian AttwellGillian Attwell Posts: 18
    Got same problem , but the new shoot are fine 
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