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Slugs ignore my hostas. Instead they eat…

deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b

11 months ago

my Sun King Aralias to the ground if permitted
Asclepias incarnata, swamp milkweed. Checked yesterday only to find ALL new shoots have been eaten and I won’t be ready for early caterpillars
baptisia. They ate one into the grave, never to try to emerge again
Anise hyssip Golden Jubilee.
goatsbeard
Monarda bradburiana. An attempt to eat in completion which I thwarted.

Many of these plants are RIGHT BESIDE HOSTAS, and my hostas are surrounded by huge leaf litter, so much so that I often have to remove an oak leaf that is constricting a hosta leaf from completely opening. I NEVER find slugs on hostas and the leaves show no signs of being eaten by anything excerpt deer. Unfortunately, the deer do not prefer the delectible beer traps I put out. Always so thankful I have Irish slugs.

Featured Answer

mxk3 z5b_MI

10 months ago

Slugs went after my milkweed, too.

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Comments (8)

laceyvail 6A, WV
10 months ago
Quite odd. I can't imagine that slugs have preferences that vary the way deer preferences vary from herd to herd or area to area. Or do they?
djacob Z6a SE WI
10 months ago
Have you actually seen them on those plants? Just asking….you may not see slugs on many hostas as there are a whole bunch that they don’t care for. In my yard I find they are attracted to the thinner leafed hostas, the tiaras and So Sweet. They loved the Allen P McConnell soooo much that I got rid of it. We are in the same zone, I find my heavier leafed puckered hostas tend not to get damage, but I do a vinegar drench on all of them.

I apologize if I am telling you things you already know. 👍🏽
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Have not had ONE slug since putting down fluffy long-needle pine "mulch' three years ago where the berms are planted with about 300 hosta. Son brought it from Cincinnati (he's in landscaping). I didn't like the looks of it because it's so fluffy and sort of 'curly' - it was about a foot deep - but it breaks down. The bastards must not like it - probably have a hard time navigating over it. I did not put it inside a fenced patio area where I have several hosta and found one slug hole last week so used the ammonia. (So I take that first part back - I did have ONE slug). Cut off the leaf and no more holes. The long-needle pine stuff isn't like regular 'mulch' because it's so fluffy and airy. Westy PS I've seen Maryann's garden and I can vouch for Deadline because I didn't see a slug hole - and she has a million hosta!
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Well, I finally have concluded what has done the most damage to my hosta this year--it's sow/pill bugs! I thought it was slugs, but the most damage was those doggone things! I just found some tiny babies eating their way up the length of a petiole, today and there were some adults burrowed in the base of the plant munching away doing a lot of damage! I've never had such a year with the kind of damage they've done! They completely dismantled an entire 'Cathedral Windows' for me, early on, before I realized who was the culprit! GRRR And I have a barrel of 'Capt. Kirk' almost completely 'timbered'!!! You know, like 'TIMBER' as the petioles all are sawn off and laying over, not to mention two 'Plantagineas' almost completely done in!! Dbl GRRR GRRR!
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deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
Original Author
10 months ago
Yes, djacob, I see them on my plants and all around those plants. I don’t have a chance of tending to all the billions of leaves that fall on my property and in the garden. Even if I did clear the garden, winter winds would blow new ones on and they’d settle down in the plant stems for winter. I have sooooo much slug habitat. I was surprised they could kill a baptisia, but I put my beer trap out too late and they exhausted the root, plus that particular baptisia was in bad soil and wasn’t the strongest anyway, and also young.

I think you gave me my answer! I do have thicker leaved and puckered hostas, so that must be it. With the other plants, they will devour emerging shoots, but they don’t climb up and eat them much at all once mature. They like the tender shoots, and my hostas really aren’t all that tender. Thank you!
deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
Original Author
10 months ago

I just moved this swamp milkweed, cleared all the leaves from around the area, and put out beer traps. You can see how much this plant tried to emerge! Keeping a close watch on it…
Barrheadlass
10 months ago
Slugs and snails are on my sedums, coneflowers , daylilies, etc…but i have not seen any on my hostas. i have been killing about 50 a day.
deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
Original Author
10 months ago
Barrheadlass, isn’t it amazing how many things they prefer? Are they eating your coneflowers noticeably or have you just seen them on the plants? I was just noticing that the coneflowers surrounding my milkweed are untouched. In fact, slug were living in the coneflowers and traveling to eat other things!

Yesterday I saw several on annual poppies which are about 8 inches or more tall. Never noticed them on those before.
Barrheadlass
10 months ago
They ate virtually all of one coneflower!
deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b thanked Barrheadlass

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