Help me keep my hosta slug-free!

[Appuskidu]

I love them and usually buy one every year but they end up looking totally awful . I’ve tried copper tape, copper wire, beer traps and crushed egg shell-with no success.

Slug pellets have certainly killed some slugs, but it seems to attract them from near and far, and then I have flower beds spattered with bright blue pellets and endless dead snail and slugs smeared across them every morning. And the hostas were STILL eaten.

I have been reading about a more natural thing (nematodes?) but don’t know what it’s like to use practically-you seem to have to use it when it’s rained and also keep it in the fridge? Has anyone used this and can elaborate?

Or anything else! Help me save my hosta!

Nematodes - you need to water them in, with a watering can with coarse holes, lots of places let you set up a regular automatic dose through to autumn (you keep them in the fridge, and water them in at night). Woollen pellets help a bit.

Beer traps haven't been lucky for me, but my family.all swear by them.

Following this as I need to find out the answer too!

I have mine in pots, not in the ground.

Do you have room for a pond? Frogs will keep the numbers down.

I have also collected slugs/snails and then taken them out to the countryside. You have to take them quite far away or they make their way back.

Slug pellets are awful op for the local eco system and wildlife.
Frogs and birds keep my hosta’s slug free. The resident blackbird too. You don’t need a pond for frogs a bucket/bowl sunk in the ground with rocks and water would work. Encouraging hedgehogs would help too.

Used to be over run with slugs and snails when we moved in 5 years ago. Slowly encouraging the wildlife and only see empty shells now.

Like senua l grow mine in pots. I have tired staging that has Auricula on in the spring, then I swap over the Hostas for the summer.

• tiered !

@EcoCustard

Slug pellets are awful op for the local eco system and wildlife. Frogs and birds keep my hosta’s slug free. The resident blackbird too. You don’t need a pond for frogs a bucket/bowl sunk in the ground with rocks and water would work. Encouraging hedgehogs would help too. Used to be over run with slugs and snails when we moved in 5 years ago. Slowly encouraging the wildlife and only see empty shells now.

Frogs and hedgehogs only work if you're in the right area though. Our part of London is full of foxes and lots of people on the street have cats, so frogs and hedgehogs either don't come or don't last. Even birds have now started disappearing since our neighbour got a new rescue that stalks our bird feeders. We're sticking with natural solutions for now, but have to say that it's really dispiriting after a while.

Tall pots with copper tape round, only thing that has ever worked for me.

OP despite the pond, the frogs, the nematodes, etc., I decided in the end to for a slug resistant garden. Sadly it means no hostas, delphinium, lupin, etc, but there are still lots of lovely things from spring bulbs through to the hellebores and cyclamen.

I put roughly crushed egg shells around mine. It does deter slugs and snails as they don’t like the rough edges.
You have to make sure you remove the membrane as the slugs actually like that bit and renew the shells quite often as they lose their effectiveness quite quickly.

I have a massive hosta that used to be under a tree in a pot. It got absolutely trashed by slugs etc. and the leaves ended up looking like lace curtains.

I moved the pot onto the patio and last year had the best display of flowers and leaves ever. It is off the ground and I have covered the top of the pot with alpine gravel.

I have heard that the bluey leaves are more resistant to slugs than the green leave variety. Guess which one I have ....

ash from the bonfire - should deter snails.

The only thing that works for me is going on a slug hunt at dusk or when it’s rained.
I scoop them up on a trowel and re-home them in my compost bin... or throw them over the fence (it’s a field, not a neighbour’s garden).

I have heard the blue leaved and thick leaved hostas are more resistant - can anyone vouch for that? I'm using nematodes at the moment but they are a pain.

I place my e I pots and stand them on the bases that go under pots. Make sure the base sticks out over an inch all the way round. Place the pots so the hosta leaves or pot don't touch anything else apart from another plant in a pot stood on a large base. Then water them so there is always water in the base.
I've found that the slugs and snails can't get across the water and my hostas don't get eaten.

@Quincie

ash from the bonfire - should deter snails.

Does that include ash from a real fire (wood and coal used)x

@RosesAndHellebores

OP despite the pond, the frogs, the nematodes, etc., I decided in the end to for a slug resistant garden. Sadly it means no hostas, delphinium, lupin, etc, but there are still lots of lovely things from spring bulbs through to the hellebores and cyclamen.

I've never tried nematodes, but see the occasional frog in the garden (even though I haven't got a pond).

Like you, I otped to give up growing stuff that slugs like. However, I haven't seen a slug in the garden for years. I'm wondering if they're avoiding it because of the lack of hostas, lupins etc and would just return if I grew some.

I bloody love delphiniums and lupins.