Hosta & raindrops

This is part of the shade garden I planted last summer between my 2 huge willow trees. So glad to see that most everything made it through the winter. Raindrops on this hostas are from last night.

OH! That can't be a real Hosta...no snail and slug holes!

Not yet anyway, Zany.

Here is a picture of my poor snail shredded hosta! When we moved I ran out of trays to catch the water so it wouldn't drip through the balcony onto the people below so I grabbed my old weed bucket, threw in a brick to raise the pot up and sat it in the bucket. There must have been a couple of snails in the bucket I didn't see because when I noticed the hosta was trying to grow for the season every single leaf was damaged before they were even unfurled. I lifted it from the bucket and found hundreds of baby snails, a large mommy snail looking exhausted and a huge snail that looked like he was grinning from antenna to antenna...one very satisfied male! I had to wash off all the soil and repot the poor thing to get rid of all the ones that were still in the dirt but the poor thing is so tattered I doubt it will look good at all this year! It is now snail free and surrounded by copper pennies on the ground around the base of the stand but the poor thing is pretty sad looking!

I had carefully cleaned and checked every other pot befor I put it out there figuring on the balcony at least I wouldn't have to worry about snails...HA!

Poor sweet little hosta~!
Tell me about the copper penny trick.
Do you put a whole line of pennies around the hostas - with no spaces inbetween? Just lay them on the ground and stick them up in the ground? And it really works? I do have some hostas with holes and need to do this if it works.

Granny yours looks so happy!!Zany use a small saucer of beer,that is how I kill slugs.

It has been raining almost everyday here so the beer would just fill with water and the slug and snail baits desolveed so I broke out the old penny jar and circled it with pennies so there is a ring of them around the base with no gaps. I have read they won't cross copper barriers is so many different places I thought I would try it. So far no snails have been found on this plant since I rescued it from the bucket a couple of weeks ago.

Does anyone know how many damaged leaves I can safely remove without stressing the plant too much?

Teh pathetic lacy leafed hosta has survived and is filling out nicely. And the pennies seem to be doing the trick even in our wet climate! Still no new slugs or snails on this plant even though I am picking them off everything else. Guess that big jar of pennies is going to become garden money! Non toxic to the dog and doesn't need replaced after rain! I wonder if they will continue to work when they develope that green patina copper gets!

I haven't tried the copper/slug barrier, so it is nice to hear from Zany that this works!!!!! As I was reading that suggestion, I wondered about the feasability of caulking the pennies directly to the side of the pot in which the hosta is planted.

In fact (and only because I am so "into" the flat marbles and such) - I wonder if one couldn't make a rather decorative pennied pot - and thereby have a permanent slug free zone?

Hmmm, a pot painted black with a penny border might be pretty and last longer than layiny the pennies in the ground where I have to make sure I don't disturb them while working! Good idea wannadanc!

Zany..do you lay the pennies flat on the ground or imbed them in the earth on their edges? I have a terrible time with slugs eating my hostas..and I have lots of pennies..LOL

I layed them flat and made a circle around the plant with overlapping pennies. The plant is still doing good but I did find a single snail on it the other day so it isn't foolproof :~(

Thanks Zany..I'll do a test..I have about 30 Hosta and I'd love to find a foolproof way of keeping the slugs off them.
Cheers,
Carol

Zanymuse,
To use the beer without the rain getting into it, use a plastic soda bottle & lay it on it's side. You can make an indentation in the soil so the bottle won't roll. That way the snails & slubs can get into it & the animals won't be able to lap it up, like they could in a saucer.

This message was edited Sunday, May 25th 9:55 AM

That will work! Thanks for the tip Hostanquilts !

I had always heard (re: slugs and copper) that when the slugs try to cross copper, their movement creates a small electric current in the copper which shocks them.

I have put sticky-backed copper tape on the top of my brick beds, and it works well also.

Hostanquilts, love the tip about beer in plastic bottles. Sure would make it easy to just cap the bottle and discard the whole thing!