Hi
I have a beautiful Hosta and every year it gets eaten by snails. wondered if anyone has any tips on how to stop this from happening. can't use slug pellets because of the pets and children. An information would be appreciated.
Joy :
-- JoyB
Hi, Joy,
You need to pour diatomaceous earth, available at garden centers, > Hi
-- Kathie
Hi Kathie
Thanks for your advice :)
I've never heard of diatomaceous earth but I'll certainly enquire a the local garden centre.
Joy :
-- JoyB
Consider ESCAR-GO
Active ingredient by weight 1% Iron Phosphate Inert 99% could be blended bread.
Anyone know where to obtain Iron Phosphate? I ask about once a year.
Stuff is expensive but works and is not toxic.
Bill
Find the product called "Sluggo." It contains the ingrediant iron sulphate which kills the snails and slugs, safe for pets and children. We use pine needles as a mulch which snails do not like. Other materials include hardwood ashes, charcoal, pine bark chips, copper, diatomaceous earth, eggshells, gravel, hair, lime, quackgrass, sand, and sawdust. Slugs and snails do NOT like azaleas, apricot, basil, beans, chard, daffodils, ginger, holly, sage, and rhubarb. Predators include backbirds, ducks, frogs, toads, lizards, and snakes. Have you tried attending beer traps daily?
Other brand names using iron phosphate are Sluggo and Safer's Slug & Snail Bait. Here's a good article:
Thank you very much for your advice, it's appreciated :
-- JoyB
Thanks for the info and the link Jim, I found it very useful :
-- JoyB
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
Snails and slugs (their naked cousins) are more of a problem during cool, rainy years, but they do have a taste for hostas. The good news is that they also have a taste for beer. You can make traps by placing containers with a bit of beer near the hosta, with the lip of the container level with the ground for easy entry. Keep trapping till you only catch a few here and there.
Another option is a newspaper trap. Slugs prefer to spend the daytime in damp, dark places, so make them a cozy daytime hideout. Take a section of newspaper as it comes from the press and unfold it once. Roll it into a tube @ an inch or so in diameter. Crush one end shut and slightly dampen the inside. Set your trap(s) out before dusk and check the next day. If you were successful, crush the other end of the tube and toss.
Good luck! Suzy, Zone 5, Wisconsin
Thanks for all you advice, it's much appreciated :
-- JoyB
For the very same reason (little sharp granules) your lungs don't like it either. I wouldn't advise using this anywhere near where kids might get into it.
I have a large Hosta bed along the north side of our house (Hostas love shade) that would explode with lush foilage every spring, only to get decimated in summer by the slugs.
I finally got rid of them, quite by accident. Two years ago, in the fall, after everything had died back, I throughly chopped down and raked out and burned up all the debris and red "mulch" (that the previous owner had put down to control weeds), all the way down to bare soil. The following spring the slug damage was greatly reduced. I did the same thing the following fall, and the spring after that there was virtually no slug damage. I assume there's a cause and effect going on here, although it's too small of a sample to say for sure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
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