While checking my plants the other day I noticed that my hosta's (hostas'? never could get the use of the s right LOL ) had small holes in the leafs. It looked like someone had taken and jabed all in them. I dont think it was slugs since I have never seen any around them and did the old beer thing and didnt catch any :-) It isnt just with one hosta and not in one spot but all of them!! I have different kinds planted in different locations and all of them has the little holes in the leafs. This is the first time I have seen them like this so not for sure what is going on.
Any and all help would be appreciated.........Thanks
Hosta's need help
slugs!
the use of the letter s
for a plural you dont use a '. so hosta becomes hostas.
he/she is going to becomes he's/she's going to. the raised comma shows that there is a letter missing.
the raised ' also shows that an object belongs to that person and can come before or after the last letter depending on how it ends. but I get confused with this one.
Mark
The apostrophe will come AFTER the last letter most frequently with last names ending in an "s". For instance, let's say the persons last name is "Michaels", you would write it like this....."Last night we had dinner at the Michaels' house."...NOT, "Last night we had dinner at the Michaels's house." The addition of another "s" after the apostrophe is not necessary and in fact would be rather difficult to pronounce, it even looks akward...and that's our english lesson for today!
I vote for slugs too, they love hostas. They usually come out at night so you are unlikely to see them.
Thanks guys for the English lesson.:-) Are you teachers?
So now that it has been established that it is slugs want to give me a lesson how how to get rid of them? :-) Never had slugs before.
Nope, not a teacher, just one of the few that actually paid attention in school I guess!LOL!!
Never tried the beer thing for slugs although some swear by it. I prefer to go down to my local nursery and pick up a canister of slug bait. Ortho sells it. There are also slug traps that you can buy. I believe Gardener's Suply sells them. The slugs fall in a trap and die after which they must be removed. I would imagine that if you didn't clean the dead slugs out on a daily basis it would get rather gross after a few days! That's one of the reasons why I have avoided the beer traps as well.
Also the palcement of the ' shows whether it is singular possessive or group possessive.
They are the schools' books
They are Lisa's books.
Plurality is after the s
singular is before the s
OH Ya, did you have a hail storm lately? That happened to my plants one time, from the hail
Please keep in mind slug baits and poisons contain an indgedient that will kill animals. Some people believe dogs are attracted to this ingredient and will eat it with gusto.
Thanks weebus for more uses of the apostrophe. For the most part I paid very good attention in school but English was just so boring for me. As I became older I relizied how wrong I had been but you know what they say about hind site. ;-) That is one reason I tried to instill in my boys to pay attention in 'all' classes, which paid off. (one just graduated college and one has 1 1/2 years to go)
Haven't had any hail storm weebus so I figure as Jerseyguy and Mark said it is slugs that are getting to them. Had some pretty hard rains but figured if that was it then it would have affected my other plants also. Wouldn't it?
After posting my orginal message I put rock dust (just as good as any bug dust you can buy and cheaper since my husband can bring it home from the mines LOL)on them and seem to have helped.
Jerseyguy thanks for letting me know about the slug bait. If I see any more signs of them I will be sure and get some. I am glad that the beer thing didnt catch any slugs because didnt think about what they might look like if I forgot to change it a couple of days ----- yuck ! Glad you mentioned that and about the traps. Don't think I will be using them :-)
On slugs - I am trying a home made trap - as I don't like to put bait out where others might be harmed, and I especially do NOT want to deal with emptying slimey soup!!!
I don't know that I can do justice with a word explanation --- I "may" trying taking a picture and posting in photo section OR in my own journal --- but for now ----
I am cutting top out of plastic bottle, inverting that top piece into the rest of the container, putting some duct tape around the edges to hold it and to protect fingers from sharp edges. Bait is poured or squirted into the bottle and bottle is laid on its side......slugs will crawl in, they won't crawl out, and as long as neighbor's dogs don't think this plastic bottle is a play thing, we should all be happy. When there are enough slugs in there, I will simply replace the bottle rather than disassembling and refilling (yuck factor is too high for that kind of thing).
i remember at school we had an english teacher that was a bit of a 'battleaxe' and her pet hate was the use of the apostrophe where it wasn't needed, like on chalkboards outside of shops and cafes for example.
eg. onion's 30p a kilo
She used to go round and wipe them off! and now i sometimes find myself doing it!
personally i don't like to kill things with chemicals, if i find any slugs (i find its best to go out with a torch under the cover of darkness) i squash em. Try using sharp grit around your hostas..broken eggsshells seem to deter them too, just make sure you wash them first to deter vermin.
lil
I have found this method works for me, put down some cardboard and soak it well. The next day turn it over and the slugs have crawled, slithered under during the night then squash them.........................
I had slugs really bad at one time. I went to a local restaurant that gets a large breakfast crowd and asked for all their egg shells. I got a huge bag of them and crushed them all up and dumped them all around the hostas. No more slugs! The egg shells are so sharp that they'd cut their slimy bodies trying to crawl over them. I continue to do this and haven't had any more holes in the leaves of the hostas since. I think the egg shells are good for a soil supplement also.
My problem this year has been a army of Japanese Bettles are eating hole in everything including my hosta. Mike
Definatly Slugs, try using Diatomaceous Earth, this will cut their soft skin. After a hard rain you will need to reapply, but I'm not sure if you need to reapply after a hail storm. :-)
I love this web site not only do you get plant info but english lessons too
Some one told me about the beer thing and I decided to try it today. I went and got a six pack and sarted out with one can. I soon deciced it wsa tine for some mure bree. I RAND OUT AND caTTLED MY NARUR AND he Broaght a 12 pakk and WE HAVEEEEEEEEEN'''T fond A SINGLED OOOONE.
PS A LITTLE LAUGHTER NEVER HURT ANYONE. I DON'T DRINK BY THE WAY. BUT I DID TRY THE BEER SEVERAL YEARS AGO FOR THE SLUGS AND DIDN'T HAVE ANY LUCK.
This message was edited Sunday, Jul 15th 1:05 AM
Calla told me that if you will take eggshells and grind them up in your blender, then put them around your hostas that will help. You might want to try it.
Um Jim, when you were told about using beer for slugs, they DID tell you that the beer should be left out for the slugs, right? I mean, you know that if YOU drink the beer, it won't work on the slugs? (giggle)
Seriously, here's another thread on slugs and snails: http://davesgarden.com/showthread/23513.html
Warning - it quickly veers off topic thanks to a funny story from Horseshoe, but I think there may actually be some useable advice buried in there.
Oh, and about the apostrophe (') and "s" rules.....
If it belongs to someone else, use the apostrophe to show possession (for example, Jim's beer)
If we were talking about someone/something that ended in "s", the apostrophe would follow the name (for example, the slugs' beer - assuming there are many slugs in your garden.)
When I write like I talk, I use an apostrophe to contract my words. For example, "It's okay to drink the beer until the slugs start falling in." (It is becomes it's)
When we make words plural, they generally don't require an apostrophe, (for example hostas and slugs.)
And then we get into all the fun rules for pluralization, where one leaf becomes many leaves, which can provide shade for one elf or many elves, who can drink one beer or many beers before they do battle with the slugs.
Now I think I need a drink ;0)
heres one i was puzzling over the other day:
if there was one groove and along came another they would be two grooves, right? if a cow lifted one hoof up and then put it down again she would have four hooves on the ground,...well if you look at the top of your house and saw a roof, and then looked at next doors' too would you see two roofs or two rooves??? doesn't sound right to me?!!
v confused as ever, lil
:P
Don't ask me. I passed english by the skin of my teeth or is that teethies? Jim