Interesting one this - when I asked about use of nematodes to the Mickfield Hosta lady when visiting the Harrogate flower show last weekend, she said it isn't slugs that's the problem, it's snails. Suggesting slugs hang around in the morning looking 'guilty' but really they aren't the offenders.
I grow all my 50+ hosts in pots, and nearly gave up a few years ago when by mid June they represented lace curtains. Since then I have discovered copper tape. Each Spring (last week this year) I remove the top inch or so of compost, where any slug eggs may be (the robins help with this!), then redress with new loam based compost, re-grit the tops, and put a ring of copper tape around each pot. I will not say that there are never any slug holes, as they can climb walls and throw themselves into the pots, but they are reduced, over the last several years, by over 85%. We still have many slugs around, and do use the ferrous, comparatively safe, slug pellets, it does help to keep them under some degree of control. I have given up with delphiniums, sadly, but otherwise manage most slug fests do come along better than they ever did. Good luck - hope it helps you too.
I use copper tape round the pots, stand pots on gravel, water in Slugclear about now (Spring). I encourage the birds. However not tried by me yet, saw this "recipe" at a garden we visited. 2 Garlic bulbs boiled to a pulp in 2 pints water. Seive it. Make up to 2 pints with cold water. Store in a container, like a milk container. Dilute to 2 tablespoons per gallon and water on Hosta leaves. Worth a go?
I have also resorted to evening forays with a Bamboo stick, the sort you use for kebabs on bbqs. Stab them and pop the lot into the compost bin. Vigilance is the key! ????
As we live in the country, mice and voles are fairly commonplace. However, in 4 1/2 years, I've never seen a rat. Not one.
Don't cover the garden with the suet , just enough to get them forraging and then you can stop once they've got into the habit. They will keep coming back. I'm watching a blackbird tossing bark mulch all over the place as we "speak"
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we're about 10 miles inland from the Atlantic and we've never had gulls here.
Interesting one this - when I asked about use of nematodes to the Mickfield Hosta lady when visiting the Harrogate flower show last weekend, she said it isn't slugs that's the problem, it's snails. Suggesting slugs hang around in the morning looking 'guilty' but really they aren't the offenders.
Really?
I grow all my 50+ hosts in pots, and nearly gave up a few years ago when by mid June they represented lace curtains. Since then I have discovered copper tape. Each Spring (last week this year) I remove the top inch or so of compost, where any slug eggs may be (the robins help with this!), then redress with new loam based compost, re-grit the tops, and put a ring of copper tape around each pot. I will not say that there are never any slug holes, as they can climb walls and throw themselves into the pots, but they are reduced, over the last several years, by over 85%. We still have many slugs around, and do use the ferrous, comparatively safe, slug pellets, it does help to keep them under some degree of control. I have given up with delphiniums, sadly, but otherwise manage most slug fests do come along better than they ever did. Good luck - hope it helps you too.
I use copper tape round the pots, stand pots on gravel, water in Slugclear about now (Spring). I encourage the birds. However not tried by me yet, saw this "recipe" at a garden we visited. 2 Garlic bulbs boiled to a pulp in 2 pints water. Seive it. Make up to 2 pints with cold water. Store in a container, like a milk container. Dilute to 2 tablespoons per gallon and water on Hosta leaves. Worth a go?
You need to reapply it after rain.
I stopped using it last autumn and my clematis was eaten almost immediately....
I have also resorted to evening forays with a Bamboo stick, the sort you use for kebabs on bbqs. Stab them and pop the lot into the compost bin. Vigilance is the key! ????
As we live in the country, mice and voles are fairly commonplace. However, in 4 1/2 years, I've never seen a rat. Not one.
Don't cover the garden with the suet , just enough to get them forraging and then you can stop once they've got into the habit. They will keep coming back. I'm watching a blackbird tossing bark mulch all over the place as we "speak"