How do you protect hostas from slugs?
Mari11
14 years ago
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skraps
14 years agoRelated Discussions
How do you protect your expensive hosta?
Comments (23)Thank you so much for all your responses "whenever you get a new hosta, divide it immediately and put each division in a different area of the garden.." I would like to, but all of the expensive hostas come to me as single divisions, so they would need 3-4 more years until I will be able to divide them. "Why are you putting the pots in the shed for the winter?.." Because I am in zone 5-6, and to keep hungry critters away. It�s better to be on the safe side. This morning I ran out and replanted my expensive ones in pots. The gravel on the top will keep squirrels away. I would rather be on the safe side and will move them into shed for winter. I like the idea of using hardware cloth cylinders and gravel at bottom of the hole, and will replant the rest directly without pots. I really hope it will work. Thank you for this idea. I use soilless mix and the results are really good� no roots rot, but this morning I also realized that I lost another 10 out of a 2 dozen I purchased and planted last fall. I ran out of my soilless mix and was too lazy to drive for another bag. I had Miracle grow potting soil that I used to plant these 10. ALL of them are gone due to rooting rots, but the ones in the soilless mix are OK. Another lesson for me :( Out of my 0.3 acres the plant beds barely occupy 1/5 of it and I am overwhelmed with all the work that should be done to protect the plants. I do use Kaput vole baits, mouse traps, Cayenne pepper, Ammonium, slug baits ( and a beer sometime) in my arsenal. My husband, who hates gardening, would go crazy when every night I disappeared for an hour with a flashlight in my hand. I browse this forum frequently and looking at the beautiful manicured beds of hundred of hostas, and wonder how the folks with acres of hosta beds and collection of hundred of hostas are able to keep the critters and slugs away�. Dani...See MoreHow do you protect open pollinated flowers from foreign pollen?
Comments (1)There is a lot involved in determining what to do. I'll try to give a brief outline here, but for more information, it is good to research the particular plant in question. Some plants have perfect flowers (both male and female parts) so they need nothing more than a little wind to pollinate themselves. These kinds often do not cross pollinate at a high rate, most tomatoes and beans for example. To ensure purity, you can bag the blossoms right from the start though since no insect is needed. You can also separate by distance to ensure purity. Some plants, the distance is not too far especially those that are self pollinating, but may attract some insects like peppers. Having other flowering plants between to act as a buffer zone helps immensely as the bees and other insect will make stops along the way. Many plants of course do need insect pollination. The amount of distance needed for purity varies a lot between genuses. Having a nice sized grouping of the same plant and no others of that type in your garden will help a lot as the insects will visit many plants in the grouping which of course lowers cross pollination. Some plants like say sunflowers have a long distance of at least 1/2 mile to keep pure, and if you have neighbor growing them way down the road, you of course can have some crossing. So for those types hand pollinating and bagging would be the way to go. If is isn't a rare type, it might not be worth the trouble. That of course is a decision to be made about the particular variety. Not as many, but some plants are wind pollinated and the distance for those to be separated can be miles. Bagging is completely necessary. Then there are those plants which must be pollinated from another plant of the same species or no seeds form. This doesn't happen as often with flowers, but there are some that will not develop seeds without another plant nearby. Apples are a well known example of this. Hope this helps some, Remy...See MoreHow do you deal with Slugs
Comments (2)I go the commercial route and use Deadline M-P's mini pellets and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS, and haven't had any issues with pets or wildlife and this product doesn't harm earthworms. I feel some of those "pet safe" products lure a person into complacency and people over use them and they have been found to be not as pet safe (or wildlife) then what they claim. There is a good article on this on the Hosta Library reading room. If you only have a limiter number of hosta, the beer system or ammonia in a spray bottle works just fine....See MoreHow do you protect your plants from the weedwackers?
Comments (5)1. Cover the soil around the base of the young tree with a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch. Spread the mulch out over the root zone of the tree, but leave a 2-inch space between the trunk and the mulch layer. The mulch suppresses weeds so they don't grow near the tree trunk and helps prevent lawn grass from encroaching on the area. 2. Open a plastic tree guard, which resembles a length of plastic corrugated pipe, along its opening seam. Slip the guard around the trunk and slide it down until the bottom rests on the soil. The guard protects the tree from mechanical damage and also prevents rodents from chewing on the tender young bark. 3. Pull any weeds by hand that grow through the mulch. Use string trimmers only around the perimeter of the mulched area to prevent damage to the trunk. 4. Remove the tree guard when the trunk grows too large for the device, usually within one to two years depending on the tree variety. Replenish the mulch layer once or twice a year to maintain its depth so it can continue to suppress weed growth....See Morediggy500
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