i think i need to follow up on WHEN TO DO THIS ... first.. prevention is much easier than cure ... so the program should start in late fall ... remove the gelatinous goo previously known as your hosta ... and kill all the mommas [actually one slug is both sexes .. go figure on that] .... and kill the ones that lay eggs .... next.. find out where they live.. and attack that area... i found.. back in suburbia.. that they were coming through the chain link from the neighbors.. and from my lawn ... so i actually baited away from the plants ... go figure on that.. why throw ATTRACTANT on your plants ... another go figure.. lol ... take a few scrap of cardboard or wood.. and lay them around the garden.. and a week or two later.. find out which has the most slugs under it ... just drop them into your drench bucket .... i also found.. that they live in some ground covers.. that they do NOT eat .... its just go figure after go figure. .. lol ... bait them there ... the following spring... attack again ... i have no proof that the solution affects eggs... but why not ... then let your hosta come up.. and keep vigil.. and apply as necessary .... i liked ammonia... but i always had to sniff it.. and frankly.. that hurts.. but i figured that if it hurt my sinuses.. it would REALLY hurt the slugs ... but it is no better than vinegar ... think escargot vinaigrette ... lol .. the real key.. is which ever is cheaper in gallon size .... anyway.. this time of year.. YOU ALREADY LOST THE BATTLE.... so plan the siege for prevention ... another thing... mulch should be pulled back.. about half way from the crown to the edge of the canopy .... so that there is a demilitarized zone.. where you can attack.. or bait .... there is no need to mulch right to the plant ... and provide a home and hiding place right next to the plant you are trying to protect ... good luck great slug hunters .... ken ps: the glory of hosta is spring through about the third week of july .... i am not looking for pristine plants this time of year... and i will tell you.. out here in the country ... the birds.. toads and frogs.. sure seem to work a lot harder in scavenging the slugs.. than they did in suburbia .... either that logic.. or my collection is so big.. i just cant worry about some of them getting eaten ...

I don't want my caps back, I want a different name. Way back in the 90s when I first signed up, I wanted Jodi_SoCal but there was a regular here named Joy_SoCal and I didn't want people to get confused so I went with the longer Jodi_in_So_Calif. Logging in is a chore with all the underscores and words, especially on my iPhone, but at least I don't have to worry about caps. :-) Jodi-

I like to find words from other cultures for which we have no concept in our society. I was fascinated by this example from Finland, as we in the US are likely to be shot as trespassers if we wander too freely without permission on private lands... From the Finnish: "Jokamiehenoikeus"---"The right for anyone to gather wild berries, mushrooms, flowers, to freely roam and travel the countryside, so long as you don't intrude on peoples" privacy." What a wonderful concept. From what I understand, a similar value exists as well in Germany and the UK.

The word "meme" was coined by Richard Dawkins, in his book The Selfish Gene. It is intended to be an analogy with "gene", so is clearly pronounced to rhyme with "cream". (And, in any case, he says so in the book!) Basically, he suggested that culture is basically made up of memes, rather as DNA is made up of in genes. Memes are replicators, as are genes. I'm not sure the idea ever really gained much traction, but the name stuck. Nowadays, memes tends to mean anything on the internet which has become sort-of common knowledge and copies itself around - things like LOL and emoticons are often called "internet memes". The Selfish Gene was published in 1976 - so the word itself is quite old.