Googled "eco friendly slug pellets"
This site has several peoples comments.
http://www.helium.com/items/612518-non-toxic-slug-control-for-your-garden
ever hear of using oatmeal? You could use plastic bottles for "bait houses" to keep it dry.
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/slug-pellet-alternatives
hope this helps
Dane
CLOSED: DJ9'S WINTER ROBIN " IN FLIGHT " PT 2
Corey -
I have to ask - I too love the delphiniums, however, I have given up on growing them. Anymore it seems we get those really hard driving rains during the summer and they just beat up the delphiniums. I have tried staking them, I have tried growing them closer to the privacy fencing and I just cannot get them to survive these rains - do you get these rains where you are or is there something I am not doing with delphiniums that I should be trying? I'd love to hear your secrets....
Carolyn
Carolyn,
I have almost no rain in the summertime when the Ds are tall. Spring, Fall and winter are our wet seasons. Even then, it's more likely to drizzle non-stop for a month than to pour.
So no help here!
Corey
Carolyn and Corey,
In our area, we think of delphiniums as short lived perennials. I received three plants that a local friend grew from seed. All three are four years old and stil alive, which is amazing as they usually don't last here more than 2 to 3 years.. This year, they didn't bloom quite as much as usual, but we had weeks without adequate rain, and my DH and I didn't get everything mulched and didn't water as much as we usually do, due to my Dad's illness and subseqent death. Next year is another year though and I will definitely get the mulching done early, before the weather gets too hot and humid.
My friend did not remember what seeds she used to grow these plants, but I do know for a fact that they are dwarfs. Magic Fountains is a good dwarf variety that I grew in the past and perhaps these were MF's too. I like the size of the plants. They are not too tall and are not as bothered by wind and rain as the tall ones.
Just thought I'd mention my experience with my delphs. Hope some of this info helps.
Linda
Dane,
I like the idea of "put a hat on it to keep it dry". For oatmeal, and Sluggo. Or, for that matter, to keep the rain out of beer or sugar-yeast-water.
And "Cloches made out of plastic bottles will protect seedlings from bad weather as well as predators." That could be priceless, too get seedlings big enough to survive a few bites.
It also helps to hear ideas repeated: a suggestion made by several sources seems more likely to be worth trying, like 'trap crops'. Maybe lettuce sprayed with caffiene concentrate!
One point made in Paghat's site is that a copper barrier can help IF it completely encloses something, AND is wide enough that slugs can't arc right over it. I've seen copper tape for less than $1 per foot, perhaps wide enough.
Thanks, all!
other links I've found or been given:
http://www.daytonnursery.com/tips/Slug Resistant Plants.htm
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/998605/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/747407/
... using ammonia in the garden, not about slugs in particular,, but about the soil issue:
http://www.paghat.com/ammonia.html
http://www.paghat.com/coffeeslugs.html
http://www.paghat.com/slugcontrol.html
http://www.mysuburbanhomestead.com/slugs-price-checking-iron-phosphate/ cheaper by the 5 pound or 50 pound bag
tip clips:
>> Ammonia water: 1 part ammonia to 9 parts water. (can spray the plant, but then rinse)
>> surround the hostas with romaine lettuce leaves and then when a bunch of them gather there, spray them with the ammonia & water mixture
some say that diatomaceous earth kills many things other than slugs
>> dry my eggshells in the oven and then crush them
>> I read in the paper this morning that oat bran will kill slugs if they eat it
>> My slugs crawl up on the deck and across it to get to the bowl of cat food. Their sense of "smell" or whatever the equivalent is is pretty amazing.
This site mentions slug-cloches, wet-carpet traps and a Colorado State University study on what types of beer slugs prefer:
from http://www.rittenhouse.ca/hortmag/glynis/slimy_slugs.asp
When will the DoD release an R2D2 particle-beam slug annihilator? All it would take is a moving-slimy-target-detecting vision system, particle-beam weapon, warning sirens and a fusion reactor.
Corey
I've thought about looking for shorter delphs just to reduce the need to stake.
I'll think about it again as soon as I get a SECOND one to survive taller than 4"!
Corey
I wish I'd had the time to save seeds from my delphiniums but as I said, this was one busy summer. I have never had to stake these plants. If they get too water logged while blooming, I just shake off the flower and they right themselves.
Another piece of info on delph seeds, I've read where they need to be fresh to germinate well. I'd not keep the seeds longer than a year.
Linda
Linda
they also need to be covered to germinate. I have germinated them in the past and covered them with a small peice of foil to make sure there was darkness.
I have tried the shorter delphs as well - and still had problems. I don't remember the rains as strong and driving when I was kid -
This message was edited Nov 17, 2010 9:23 AM
Gm all Looks as going to be a very nice day till later this evening so i hope to take advantage & Plant a few more seeds today I Have some .
LUPINES
FOXGLOVES
DELPHINIUNS
RUBECKIAS
COREOPSIS
Going Right into the groud No Jugs for me Once they come up I Can seperate to other spots in the garden.
Also going to plant some seeds in my seed trays & Leave them in my GH for the winter.
I Need to pick up some seedling mix today what type do you all have good luck with .
or do you make up your own ???
well off to check ,y mail you all have a great day
susie
I just harvested a bunch of Hosta seeds yesterday. is anyone interested in Hosta seeds? I had great success with winter sowing Hosta seeds. Does anyone have the bright red/purple Coral Bell seeds?
I Didn;t get mine collected this year sorry Just came in got all my seeds in the ground Now I Just hope that they will germanate this spring :)
well go to get ready to go into town & Meet with the gals this afternoon it is alway so much fun & Laughter :)
back later
susie
>> Another piece of info on delph seeds, I've read where they need to be fresh to germinate well.
I guess it wouldn't be smart to save 3/4 of each variety "until I learn to keep most of them alive"!
>> they also need to be covered to germinate.
I do always sow them 1/8th" to- 1/4" deep. Lately I've used the advice from "Square Foot Gardening" to germinate in a layer of vermiculite, but that must have blocked enough light because i got good germination.
I guess if I go over to sprouting them on coffee filters, I'll have to keep that quite dark.
I see in the Virtual Seeds database, they like 50-55 degrees for germination, and 1/16th inch depth!
Also, VS advises cold-damp stratifiction for 2 weeks, which i have never done. But I don't always get good germination.
Oddly, this site advises the opposite:
>> Barely cover the seed – the objective is to keep the damp soil around the seed, not eliminate all light.
http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/delphinium-flower.html
Corey
Corey -
interesting. I believe I got mine off the back of the packet of seeds....
Will delphiniums self seed?
Carolyn,
I believe you and Virtual Seeds. I saw the "1/8" and "1/4" sowing depth on seed pkts also.
>> Will delphiniums self seed?
I haven't read that either way, and I have cut the few bloom spikes that I managed for cut flowers. There are 300 species of delphiniums (I read somewhere), so it may vary by species and zone.
You can divide them, though.
Corey
I winter sowed some delph seeds. I don't remember treating them any diferent than the rest of the seeds. I only got one that bloomed this year but it was very strong, so I cut off the bloom. Hopefully, next year I will have a few more blooms and some seeds to experiment with.
Carolyn, There are lots of things I don't remember about the weather when I was a kid. Even the weather from the 90's until now has changed. I gardened then too, so I would definitely see a difference and remember it. We have such humid weather here now that I don't remember before. And many summers we go through weeks without rain from July until September. August can be down right horrible.
My DH and I had made a rule that we needed to get the spring gardening chores done before Father's Day - general clean up, planting annuals, perennials, mulching - all the good stuff! Then we moved it to June 1st, since the weather is getting hotter and more humid earlier. Now, we are moving it to mid May. After that, all bets are off as to being comfortable when working outside. It's a shame I feel like I can't enjoy the summer any more. And this year, really good rain did not come until the first of October. I have reblooming irises that are still attempting to send up blooming scapes even though we've had hard freezes. They need water to rebloom and Mother Nature was really stingy here this summer and early fall.
Thanks for the tip on the seeds needing darkness. I really should have tried to save some of my delph seeds but again time was not on my side. I hope my plants last another year and I can get some next year. I love the height of these - not even the 3 feet I see listed on some sites but more like 2 feet. Even my dwarf lupines were a nice size and the rain and wind didn't bother them. I still have a few seeds on one plant that I can harvest. The other ones, most of which were volunteers, look like they did not make it through the summer. They bloomed and then kind of disappeared. They are pretty easy to start from seed and some will bloom the first year from WS'ing.
I have never had a single volunteer from my delphs in all the years I've grown them
Linda
Guessing the Robin will land at Maxine's February 21st.
Linda, when is your last frost date? Do you cut down old plants in the fall or spring? It seems every year we get a frost just before Memorial Day. People usually buy nice plants for Mother'd Day but that low temp comes in and wipes them out. I try to give myself until Memorial Day. If everything is done by then I'm set to plant by June 1st. I can pace myself if I cut down and clean up in the fall. By the spring there's not a lot of clean up and by then I'm itching to get outside and play.
Susan, good guess! LoL how have you been?
Has anyone started Summer Poinsettas inside?
Lost, diamond, can you tell I got lost? LOL
Hope 2-21-11 wasn't already taken, Susie. BTW Beth's guess was Feb 6 (not Feb 16).
Last frost date in spring - well, it depends! Not the answer you were looking for, probably. But, DH and I have been known to plant tomatoes and annuals around the first to second week of May. If we make a trip to a greenhouse that sells interesting varieties AFTER Mother's Day, the selection is poor and all the good stuff is snapped up! That's not to say that we don't have to cover a few times before Memorial Day. I'd say that we usually don't get any frost after the middle of May. Sometimes we don't get any more after April 30th. If the forecast is even close to frost temperatures, we don't take a chance and we cover using brown paper bags, empty garbage cans, even taped sheets of newspaper. I don't remember losing anything and having to rebuy.
I'm one of those gardeners that believe that dead leaves/plant stalks/ dead flower heads help insulate plants over the winter, so we clean up in the spring. The only exception to that rule is my tall phlox, which usually has a tiny bit of black spot or a little powdery mildew on the leaves by late fall. Those, we clean up completely and cut down to the ground. I usually cut down and remove all the reblooming iris scapes and daylily scapes too.
And speaking of cutting off stems and dead flower heads, I listen to a radio gardening show out of Cincinatti that is rebroadcast on a local station - Ron Wilson In The Garden. He said that there have been studies that show that leaving the stalks and dead leaves on mums improves your chances of them over-wintering. If you want to remove the dead flowers, just shear them off and leave the stems and leaves. I see posts all the time about peoples mums not coming back and this tip may help someone who loses mums. It's also a good idea to plant your mums in the spring, if you can find them at the greenhouses or box stores so that they have the whole summer to get established. Those planted in the spring stand an even better chance of coming back after winter. Just thought I'd mention this tip.
Linda
Lazlo and I went through the Robin today...when we went through it, we found that about 50% of the box is private trades...another 25% consists of last spring's seeds (mostly vegetables!)...and only the remaining 25% were trades/seeds for everyone. We took what seeds we felt were appropriate for our gardens and greatly reduced the seeds from the spring robin...It did not take long to go through it since so much of it was not available to us...
My seeds are in 2 large ziplock bags and each bag is marked with the common name and botanical name...take what you need and enjoy. I included seeds of the following:
Agastache, mixed
Cheddar Pink
Chocolate Daisy
Corn Poppy or Flander's Poppy
Fragrant Mist Flower
Yellow Pear Tomato
Chocolate Cherry Tomato
Kenaf...Lazlo harvested these, so thank him for braving the spikes!
Perilla atropurpurea
Pink Coneflower
Popcorn Lantana
Red Bee Balm
Red Texas Sage
Velvet Leaf Mallow
I also encluded a page that lists each of these with the botanical name and zone...if anyone has any questions as to the culture, please email or d-mail...I have grown each of these for several years and found each one contributes to the garden.
As to the shipping, the cost from CA to TX was $24.50...Lazlo and I attempted to fit the contents into a large flat-rate priority and we could not get it to fit...so it will ship to Dane in the same box. The cost will continue to be high...in my opinion, TOO high, because of the multiple, many bags of private trades. We strongly suggest going back to private trades and private mailings...It is unfair for everyone to pay the high postage and not benefit from the Robin in proportion to the available seeds.
I will likely ship the box out on Friday and will let everyone know.
MaryAnn
Linda that's interesting. This will be my first year with Mums. I always had a hard time trying to determine which was the hardy variety for my zone. A friend gave me some, so I'm anxious to see how they fair in my garden. That would be a good experiment - plant Mums in the same area, with same conditions, only plant one in spring and one in fall, cut one back in winter and the other in spring, see how each progresses.
I read that you should cut back in the winter to keep pest and diseases from setting up over the winter. It make sense to insulate some plants for winter. I cut back almost everything except the shrubs that bllom in the spring.
I would think that pests over-wintering - insects?- would be a problem if you are in a warmer zone. Up in the cold north, though, I think that shouldn't really be an issue. I've not seen any evidence of any here. We try to get out there and clean up pretty early - March if we have some nice days and usually we do. One year we had a few 70 to 80 degree days without any humidity. Prime weather for gardening INHO.
I think each gardener has their own way of doing things and if it works for them, then great. I've done things both ways - fall clean up and spring clean up. Since spring clean up seems to work so well for me, I keep doing it that way. I very seldom lose perennials and that is what I'm after.
We are literally surrounded by oak trees - none are ours - and we leave the oak leaves that blow into the beds there until spring. I figure it adds another layer of insulation for the plants.
Linda
Linda, wondered about that, allowing the leaves to lay??? I have read that you should shred them then use them as mulch for plants and roses.
I agree with you whatever works for your situation. I'm still learning alot. I have a garden by pure luck. Once upon a time I didn't do anything at all in my garden. Of course at that time all I had was Hostas. LoL I'm still learning alot and I'm absorbing all the information I come across.
Around here rabbits, mice and voles are a concern. The experts even suggest that we not mulch to high around trees. It is believed that mice and voles look for a place to stay warm during the winter and that they will make a home in the mulch around trees and nibble on young trees.. The experts suggest that we protect young trees with some type of guard during he winter months. Most of this information I read from publication from the Purdue Extension Office.
When I began gardening, I was a voracious reader. I still have a nice sized pile of gardening magazines in the basement that I just can't get myself to throw out! I wanted to start seriously gardening armed with as much info as I could get. And at the time I was really getting into gardening, I did not have access to anything on the computer. My DH and I went to some seminars led by local Master Gardeners, I talked to friends who gardened but many knew even less than I did. Experience is probably be the best teacher, but I have no patience so I wanted to know everything all at once. Sure, I've made mistakes, but nothing that I can remember that cost me a lot of money. Most things that I grow have done well over the long haul. I have somewhere around 350 daylilies, 75 to 100 irises, lots of perennials, shrubs, and I plant a few annuals in pots every year. I am starting to grow dahlias now so I'm concentrating on learning what I need to know about them. Being a gardener is an on-going process. I love learning, so it works for me.
If I had to clean up all the oak leaves that fall on my beds, I'd be outside every day, all winter, doing it. Some blow away, to be replaced by others. These different oaks drop their leaves almost until spring. One year we shreaded a bunch of them, using them to cover things in the veggie garden. I think it was the year I received some small daylily fans from a trader in Texas very late in the season. We have a short fence around the garden to keep out critters, and I thought the leaves would stay put and work to insulate the daylilies. That was another of my learning experiences. The winds during the winter picked up the shredded leaves until most of them were gone. I lost all of those daylily fans too! They heaved themselves out of the ground and froze. Now I won't take any trades later than around the end of September so that the roots can get established.
Here, moles live in the ground, so leaves laying around would not be an issue. We are firm believers in mulch, but by winter, a lot of it has already degraded and gone into the soil. There is usually just a thin layer left when we go out to clean up in the spring. I understood that one of the reasons you don't pile mulch up too high around trees is that the trunk can stay too moist and rot or disease could set in. Our rabbits are so large, leaves laying around the perennials wouldn't provide them much in the way of cover!
Linda
i guess i have to disagree about the amount of private trades in the robin. sure there were some, but there were so many seeds in the "for everyone" bags that it took me hours to look at them all. the private trade bags were not that big, the for everyone bags were large zip locks stuffed full. I feel that i got a whole lot for the postage. this is my first robin so i have nothing to compare it with, but still am very happy with the seeds i chose. If i had to buy them and pay postage it would have been a lot more, IMO. i also spent some time playing with the screens Corey/Rick put in trying to figure out which i likes best. ( they did not take up much room at all or weigh much)
karen
aka sherman
I ADDED The spring robin in there for many did not get it go through any that were added after them So there was much to go through .
MAryann you are not all that far from dane so it should not be as much as coming from calf . I wouldn't think anyway .
well its been quit a day so got to lay back good nite all .
Maryanne would you please dmail me with the weight , cost , &conf when you get it sent back out .
thank you
susie
as for the second robin round we have no idea as to what will be in there .
But sitting here this morning pondering over what I Have
gathered from Maryann & from Lazlo whom might be just alittle disappointed for haven to pay postage for others who are sharing seeds with others atfer them & for that they might be right ,
I Proble should have started the robin in the east to the west but sure it would have been the say resaults we all had so many extra seeds this year to share , & So yes the rate is gone up ,
Yes it might have been less postage if you all had just sent to the ones whom ask for certain seeds , alittle late for that now .
we all live & learn .
I Gave everyone a chance to voice there opion on this & You all chose to go through 1 robin & well looks as it is costing what it would if you was to sign up for 2 robin 's ,
as for the second time around I'm Going to have maxine to
send it home then I will list as to what is in the robin & Then if you want any of them & What to go through the robin it will be sent back around to you .
No matter where I had started the robin we would still proble have
the same Possitive & Neg side about the robins .
I'm sorry if many might not find just what they want for what it cost to mail the robin .
But I look at it this way if a robin comes to me I Have the chose to choose what I Want .
So Please if you feel that you cannot afford the robin
i trully will understand just let me know so we have time to change
the flight path .
we can have the robin sent back to me & I will pay for the postage
& I will take the time to devide the robin if that will help .
just let me know .
I was also very happy with the value of the Robin, and still plan to pay for an extra peek on the second go-round. It cost more than I expected, but was hudely worth it for me.
I very much appreciated getting a look at the spring seeds (the only vegetables, I think) and I took several seeds from it.
Overall, since many seeds were new to me, it was the equivalent of many years of individual trading and the postage was much less than it would have been as individual trades - and I would never have gotten 1/4 or 1/10th the variety by browsing people's trade lists.
Figuring a one-person swap as costing $1.50 to $2.00 in each direction (net $3-4), and the RR as $20-$25 for the longer hops, the RR cost about as much as 5-8 one-to-one swaps. And I just counted 40 packets that I received from it, 20-30 of which I would never have gotten by tediously searching trade lists and having nothing to offer the people trading them.
So for me it was not just many times cheaper, it was an opportunity I could never have equaled in one-to-one trading.
And I sent "personal" trades to at least 6 people and got personal trades from a similar number, which I think would have cost $21 all by itself, though it only added a few ounces to the RR (12 x $1.75). (Any heavy trades I sent outside the Robin.)
I see that one extra pound from WA to FL costs an extra $3 ... do all the personal trades combined exceed $3? Anyone who has even one incoming and one outgoing personal trade breaks even at that rate. And it looked like many people had 4-8 personal trades going both ways.
(I moved a few of the one-to-one trades from bulky bubble mailers to a plastic bag, saving some space and a tiny amount of weight. More space could be saved by doing that for 3-4 more of them, but I don't think that bubble mailers weigh even one ounce each.)
Corey
I agree with the statements above. I am sorry that anyone is unhappy with the Robin. I have always been excited waiting for the Robin to arrive and thrilled once I recieved it.
I thought we took a vote on whether or not to include specific requests? I could be wrong but if I remember correctly we were asked for our input.
The disadvantage of being on the first leg of the Robin is you only get to select from the people who came before you but an advantage is you get first pick of the seeds that are available. Being on the last leg, we have the advantage of select ing from the seeds of everyone prior to us but the disadvantage is some of the seeds will be all gone.
I will gladly share any seeds that I have with anyone interested. My list is current on the "wish list" forum. Like Susie said, maybe it was not the best idea to send seeds ahead but I didn't send them early to force anyone to pay for shipping for me. I have quite a few seeds and I will get the Robin near the end. I sent seeds ahead so that I could share what I had with everyone.
LOL
Fun is what you make of it .
I will still enjoy it
Lavina who is excited excited excited
>> some of the seeds will be all gone.
At the very beginning, the choice was so abundant that I never had to take the last of anything, except some spinach from 2009.
When there was only a single packet of something I was hot for, it was always fat enough that I could take less than half and still leave a good amount.
Thanks to everyone who put in fat, bulging, or HUGE packets!
Corey
Susie, thanks for your generous efforts and all your hard work. I really appreciate what you have done to put the RR on. I have met a great bunch of gardeners here. I thoroughly enjoy signing on to DG several times a day to chitchat with different people in the forums.
here is my thought on the postage, forgive me if i offend anyone. if you dont like the robin or the cost of the postage or whatever, you have the choice to opt out. I would think that since 2 people looked at the robin together, they would have split the cost to send it on to the next person, so their actual cost would only have been $12 each instead of $24. maybe i misunderstood that part and maybe only one person looked at it. not sure. anyway, this took a lot of work, there were a gazillion seeds to choose from, it is very organized and very much appreciated ! I would have had to trade seeds for a year to get what i got in one day, and for way less money then the cost of individual trades. so- very well worth it, count me in for whatever comes next. and Deejay- you are the best !
Ty Karen & I Will put your name on the 2 second time around but if you decide not it is ok .
I'm sure that the robin will lose weight once it guets 1/2 way for there is many pks of seed for others in there
& As I said No matter witch way i would have started the robin the cost would proble be the same .
there is a huge bag that lazlo had sent to me for others Just in case he was away when the robin got down his way so yes part of the weight was from all the great seeds he had in there & Of corse paying postage on seeds you have already paid postage on will i do understand that is not fair .
with that said please all will be ok soon & you who stay I Hope you will see . there should be 4 Large ziplock baggies filled with variety fresh seeds . & even taken 2 TBLs Out of each baggie with hardly put a dent in them , that is how many there was when it left here , it grew 3lbs after it left here . from generious givers .
well I also want to know from anyone that has any suggestion on how we can still make this work
with less cost I'm open to hear it . for i just want it to be a great robin for all to enjoy in their own home .
& maybe find seeds that would cost less then if you had sent for them .
well time to go set super on you all have a great evening .
I would be happy to send envies/postage/money for the seeds I put in for individuals.
I'm just patiently waiting.
Got up and they were installing the pipe for the new driveways. They weren't suppose to be here til next week. I'm losing alot of plants but making room for the new.