Can I save my hostas or give up this year?

[Asabat]

Tried not to use the evil blue meanie pellets this year and it's been a disaster snails have massacred my hostas. What to do? Cut back somehow or just give the snails their dinner and give up
this year, or something else - will the plants produce new growth?

i am not really looking for slug/snail solutions (the pots are on gravel, i have sprinkled with salt, the soil in the pots has gravel and shells on and copper tape on the edges, i hunt snails each evening, beer traps don't work, nor do wool pellets). 😭 I just want to know can i save them this year?

pics show last year v this year

Nematodes are your friends - they're a microbial predator of snails and slugs and honestly in the years I've used them, I've seen maybe one or two slugs a year and virtually no damage. They're brilliant.

Have you got crocks in your pots? They can be proper slug harbours.

A guy on Beechgrove gave a fantastic tip. Instead of crocks lie a piece of sacking/muslin/old dishcloth across the hole and the entire bottom of the pot. This keeps the soil in, lets the water out, but stops the slugs getting in and living amongst the crocks.

I'd cut back, repot with the fabric in and try again.

Also encourage hedgehogs and get a pond for frogs and toads and hope they eat the lot of them.

Ohhh, also, the soil in your pots looks quite low. The best way to keep hostas free of slugs is to make good, strong plants. So fresh compost each year or a top dressing of new compost, feed and water regularly.

I had to dig up five hostas from a new bed that had been ravaged, and pot them up, but I must admit the potted ones are fine. Perhaps as a pp suggested you have "lurkers" in your pots!

Mine are now in pots on the patio, which I assume has no slugs, as they don't like the slabs??

Oh these are great suggestions. I will repot, evict lurkers and sort the pot holes.

I have tried nematodes and while they seem work for slugs, i am not sure they do for snails? Will give it another go though.

i also thought i could pretend they were a special lacy variety of hosta until they were munched down to the stalk!

Would love a pond, but not sure we have the right space for it. Would also love hedgehogs 🦔 but I never hear of them locally - too urban?

The adhesive copper tape is very good for protecting hostas in pots from slugs. I am also going to try the mesh trick for any that do get in- just looking for some mesh!

I let the slugs eat mine and they always come back!

I'm on a FB gardening group and someone with the same problem had a tip to put slices of cucumber down for the snails to eat instead and it worked!

@Asabat @Churchview Hedgehogs eat slugs only when starving and desperate (which they often are these days). When a hedgehogs eats slugs, it ends up with it dying from the parasites in slugs. Please do not promote the idea that hedgehogs are a way to control slugs. If you want to feed hedgehogs, leave out dry kitten kibble.

https://hedgehogcabin.info/how-you-can-help

Oh, what's your blue hosta? That's very pretty. Has that one been munched too?

The snails are getting access to your hostas via the fence panel / any other plants/branches that are touching your hosta leaves. I would suggest moving them into the "open" a bit more.
I have a similar square pot, and despite a band of copper tape, snails are hiding under the rim.
I've used old fashioned copper scouring pads around the stem of my hostas (and dahlias) but that won't stop snails abseiling in from above.

OP your hostas from previous years are amazing !!! Sadly mine usually look like your this year photos.
However, hostas can recover quite quickly ime so I'm sure you can turn it around this year.

Slugs don't like ground coffee either!!!

@JamMakingWannaBe I now have wonderful images of ninja snails (possibly in capes) abseiling from height like something out of a bank robbery movie.

@RogueFemale oh good to know. We careful about dog eating them for the same reason.

@JamMakingWannaBe this is all v true and i need to clear up the area. Those square pots are useless as they provide a snail hotel after they have sampled the buffet. I do check and clear everyday. Will add rimless pot to the list, but it's the largest one i have atm.

Cut them right back, give them their ideal conditions (mostly slightly shadier and moister and fResh compost) and if you repot them then I’m trying a bit of old net curtain over the pot holes which I saw some hosta obsessed folk on gardeners world do. They will romp away again.

I’ve just started some slug traps with marmite in them and they have been amazingly successful.

@RogueFemale Goodness, I didn't know that. Thank you. I'll read up more on that. I put out hedgehog food for our hedgehogs and we have installed hedgehog gates. They're such lovely creatures.

Thanks for the thread, I'm going to remove the crocks today.

I would vote for frogs. I used to have your problem til I dug a pond and now have trouble free hostas coming up year on year and getting bigger. I only have a small garden. Can you incorporate a small water feature ?

Galvanised steel is also good. Buckets, tubs etc. They won’t go near it.

They are definitely ninja - especially the small ones!

B&Q have had some nice hostas for sale recently. Not top of my list of stores for plant shopping but definitely worth a look if you are in for something else.

If it's 'hedgehog food' branded as such, it's unlikely to have the nutrition appropriate for hedgehogs (there is no regulation over what's in so-called hedgehog food). Please just provide dry kitten kibble. (and encourage neighbours to make hedgehog holes and gates, because one problem for these creatures is the loss of access to the habitats where they find food).

Mesh? Those string bag things that supermarkets use for citrus fruit.

old tights also work as a mesh

No mesh needs to be smaller than citrus bags according to the chap more like
PVC Dipped Mesh Fabric 220GSM 2 Meter Wide Heavy Duty Tarpaulins Ground Sheets | eBay
As baby slugs are small
You could do the tights thing though!