If poke are dining on your hostas , fight back with these easy - to - execute scheme .
If you ’ve of late been bemoan , " What ’s corrode my Hosta ? " on repetition , the response is in all probability slugs . These gooey guy wire care to munch on the leaves of hosta — those reliable garden workhorses that come back twelvemonth after year and adorn your yard withall sorts of textures and shadowiness of viridity . If you ’re counting on the lush foliage to fill out your shadowy quad , do n’t despair : There are several agency you canstop slugsin their slimy caterpillar tread and keep them aside from your hostas all summertime long .
Garden Pests That Eat Hostas
Before you announce war on slug , corroborate they ’re the single take in gob in your genus Funka leaves . Besides hail , cutworms could also be the culprits ; their signature tune is chewing the gentle role of the leaves and avoiding the veins . Slugs will munch anywhere on the leaves , the right way through the vein . cervid and rabbits will eathostas , too , but they do n’t get out holes behind . Instead , you ’ll likely see bare stems with possibly a ragged firearm of leafage left behind .
How to Get Rid of Slugs
Make Them Uncomfortable
Slugs prefer dampish places where they can slide around easily . Rake away any beat leave-taking near your hostas and add somerough mulch , like barque , around your plant life . you’re able to also patter diatomaceous earth ( $ 17 , The Home Depot ) around your hostas . poke do n’t wish the sensation of the petite , sharp crystals in this nontoxic gunpowder . background - up eggshells can have the same effect . If you only have a small area to protect , seek circle it with copper tape at primer stage . The slime on the slug ’s foot chemically reacts with copper , grant the pest an electric shock .
If you are n’t too dainty , hunt for sluggard at night when they are most combat-ready . The beam of a flashlight will shine off their slimed trail , which you’re able to follow to find the slugs make the tracks . Once you ’ve site them , drown them in a container of saponaceous water or feed them to backyard poulet if you have them ( chicken love slugs ) .
Create a Slug Hotel
essay this homemade redress to protect hosta plants from microbe : Leave out a smooth musical composition of composition board or a small wooden board on the ground in a damp , shady spot . Give the slugs a day or two to check in before reverse over the cardboard or display panel and evicting your unwished-for guests .
Poison Slugs with Iron Oxide
at long last , there ’s the poison path . check that you do n’t use anything that might also harm birds , positron emission tomography , and children — iron oxide , for example , is toxiconlyto slug and snails . Scatter a slug bait with branding iron oxide , like Sluggo , around each hosta . Check back every two weeks or after big rains , and replace the bait if it ’s go .
It may take several of thesetactics to stop slugsfrom chewing holes in hosta pull up stakes . You ’ll know your efforts are work when you originate seeing new , undamaged leaves growing in , replacing the one the slugs have been snacking on .
Slug damage looks like uneven holes in hosta leaves, chewed through veins and all.Credit: Scott Little
Credit: Scott Little
