The Garden Community for Garden Lovers

How to help harvest healthy hostas

10 comments


Great to hear all the tips for keeping slimy slugs off my hosta plants! So far, I’ve tried grit, egg shells, vinegar spray etc to no (snail) avail. I don’t like using pellets for fear the wild birds and foxes might be harmed if they eat the subsequent ‘slugy’ victims! At present there is a pan of boiling garlic bulbs on the cooker. I’ll try spraying this brew on my hostas tomorrow and hopefully get some good results. I’ll keep you informed.

More blog posts by dustyrose

Next post: Garlic Brew



Comments

 

I would like to know if the garlic works - I have a lot of frogs in the garden and I'm sure they help keep the slug population down, but I wouldn't like to harm the frogs. I also worry that pellets might end up in th fish pond.

24 Jul, 2011

 

I dont like using slug pellets either as they go through the food chain - slugs eat them and then frogs eat the slugs and then cats eat the frogs!
Get a pond and the frogs will come Dusty rose, and reduce your slug population, also feed the hedgehogs, I find these are great at helping to control the snails and slug

24 Jul, 2011

 

Maybe the new organic iron phosphate slug granules?

24 Jul, 2011

 

Do they claim to be safe for wild life/animals Tugb?

24 Jul, 2011

 

I've been using garlic spray for years, and it definately does work. However, I also have all my hostas in containers, around which I apply a liberal ring of grease, which I usually have to reapply twice a year, because of rain. Lastly, most of my containers are on top of something else - an old bench, another upturned container and even hanging from trees.
To be honest, I gave up planting hostas in the ground years ago. For me, once I'd changed, the results were immediate.

25 Jul, 2011

 

As my photos show my hosta in the ground is untouched every year. I put it down to either they dont go for mature ones or they dont care for some types?

25 Jul, 2011

 

They claim to be safe for people, pets, and wildlife, Drc, and I haven't noticed anything to the contrary. Another advantage to them is that they kill slugs and snails outright, while metaldehyde based baits just knock them out, and rely on the sun to kill them. With the latter, if the area is shady, or the weather cool and cloudy, the pests eventually wake up, and wobble off home. I have only grown a few Hostas, since there aren't many that survive our climate, so I can't speak to some varieties resistance to slugs and snails, but I have noticed that once the leaves have toughened up, there is much less damage.

25 Jul, 2011

 

I heard the garlic recipe on telly the other night and am going to try this next year when the leaves start coming up. I think it was on Gardeners World and they visited a garden completely planted up with hostas and each plant looked pristine. Must be worth a try.

26 Jul, 2011

 

Hope the brew works for you, I do have lots of frogs so haven`t seen a slug at all this year but I do have snails hiding around, loathe to use the pellets in case they get anywhere near my ponds...

27 Jul, 2011

 

I cut the bottom out of a plastic pot..put some sticky back copper strips around the top..buried it just leaving inch and half where strips are and so far this baby hosta has not been touched. The copper strip was bought from craft shop, used in making stained glass which I never got round to. Welcome to GOY:-)

28 Jul, 2011

Add a comment

Featured on

Members who like this blog

  • Gardening with friends since
    22 Oct, 2008

Garden centre