Rant about slugs

My beautiful Crown Imperials...I'm so very proud of them growing so well..the biggest is now a foot tall and has all it's dainty yellow bells showing.
At least it was..... The horrible,slimy,gross,Gods joke,vile,evil,detestable little b*ggers have munched the bottom of it's stem and now it's lying on the ground
I hate slugs...with a passion and intensity that is scary

Well, feel a bit better now I've got that off my chest..
Oh yeah, what should I do with the Crown Imperial? Should I cut it off or something???

 

Hi Windy,I hate slugs as well,with a passion.We have a hedgehog who does the rounds,but he isn't interested in the tiny keel slugs that do the most damage :eek: If there is some of the stem still attached to your Crown Imperial try to gently lift it up and tape it back into place where it joins the rest of it with some sticking plaster or tape.I had a Helleborus fall onto the floor the other week as I shut the greenhouse door.The stem was broken but still atttached so I got some tape and did a DIY job on it.It has worked and it gave me the chance to Pollinate it to get seeds before I have to cut it off completly.

If the stem is thick on your Imperial and the top flowering which would make it top heavy then you might need to splint it with a piece of wood where you tape it.I have had to cut off flowers from plants that this hasn't worked on,but when I have put them in water they have failed to open and just shriveled and died...

Good Luck

 

Thanks Kandy,
they've nibbled a hole in each side of the stem...I suppose they were going to come back tonight for seconds!!! :rolleyes:
Ooh!! What sort of tape would be best,do you think?

 

Hi Windy,I use the tape that looks like sticking plaster but hasn't got the padded bit on it.I think you can use it for a number of things,but I mainly use it for DIY plant jobs,as it is qyuite strong and I think it allows the plant to breath.I used to use selotape but that didn't work.I do hate waiting a year for things to grow only to lose them to slugs and snails or else you have to wait another whole year to hopefully see the plant in flower again.Ordinary plasters might be ok if you have no plaster tape.

Just get some slug pellets.You can go green once all the slugs have gone.Since I have been tidying up the dead leaves in the borders I have found no end of those keel slugs.Any snails I find go into the recycling bin.They are happy up the tip.It must be snail heaven to them :D

 

Brilliant! Thanks Kandy Gawd knows what the neighbours are going to think....they thought I was bonkers when they saw me making rings out of my soil...when they see me putting elastoplast on a plant I think they'll get me carted off to the funny farm!!! :D :D :D

 

Well they really think I'm mad now, coz I found one of those teeny slugs while splinting...probably his fault...so after a very stern talking to he was flung into the field with considerable force off a trowel!!!!! :D :D :D

 

For you Windy my friend.x

 

:D Thanks Roders!

 

Hi windy miller, the slugs bit through 2 of my 4 shoots of crown imperials, I was fuming too but they would'nt of flowered anyway cos the stems were'nt thick ones, have to wait till next year now! Got blue slug pellets everywhere!!!! so they can't get at anything else like my hostas.

 

I've splinted it up like Kandy said and I'm afraid I've resorted to slug pellets to try and protect the others. Very effective they are too, judging by the 6 slimy,corpses that the pellets got overnight.

Yah hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa('maniacal, you eata my plants, you sleep with ze fishes' type of laugh) :D

 

Try the sticky copper tape as a splint windy it will do two jobs in one without compromisig the wild life

 

Oh great idea Walnut, I've got some of that in the shed!!!

 

Just watch out you pick up the slugs rather than your friendly wildlife. You can get wild life friendly slug pellets - but I am not certain how safe they are, so don't use them mayself - relying on the pick and salt method.

For the last couple of years I have had a family of thrushes in the garden, and they have helped preserve my delphs, which the snails snip the flowering stems.

 

If you have dedicated hosta beds I pellet this time of year to wipe out the worst offenders as the shoots appear. Nothing else has worked as well, and I am not having holey hostas en mass ! Once its warmer and after they are up and leafy I go out at night and pick them off by hand, not needing to pellet during the summer. Sorry to hear your munching nightmare windy.

 

I hadn't seen a slug this year until my Fritillaria got a stem, then it's 'Right troops...today's mission is infiltrate Windy's garden...munch the juicy greenery...and disappear under cover of darkness' :rolleyes: :D
Bl**dy things!!! My Hostas are in pots on the patio and the slugs don't seem to like the gravel they're sat on, but I've still got the old copper tape around the pot, just in case!! :rolleyes:
I didn't want to resort to slug pellets, but the birds I feed don't land in the garden because of my cats, my cats won't eat slugs,and I've never seen a hedgehog anywhere near here!! It seems like the slugs are near the top of the food chain, with free reign to do what they want!! Well not in my garden they're not!!!! :D