Hi

I have a beautiful Hosta and every year it gets eaten by snails. I wondered if anyone has any tips on how to stop this from happening. I can't use slug pellets because of the pets and children. Any information would be appreciated.

Joy

Hi, Joy,
You need to pour diatomaceous earth, available at garden centers, in a circle around the base of the plant on top of the soil. Put down a good amount and make sure to complete your circle. Diatomaceous earth is little sharp granules over which the snails do not like to crawl. It is usually the ideal solution. Reapply after a series of heavy rains (so, this year, no problema apparently--once should do the whole summer..( )
Kathie

Hi Kathie

Thanks for your advice

I've never heard of diatomaceous earth but I'll certainly enquire at the local garden centre.

Joy

In article ,
JoyB wrote:

Hi

I have a beautiful Hosta and every year it gets eaten by snails. I
wondered if anyone has any tips on how to stop this from happening. I
can't use slug pellets because of the pets and children. Any
information would be appreciated.

Joy

Consider ESCAR-GO

Active ingredient by weight 1% Iron Phosphate
Inert 99% could be blended bread.

Anyone know where to obtain Iron Phosphate? I ask about once a year.

Stuff is expensive but works and is not toxic.


Bill

--
S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade
This article is posted under fair use rules in accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and is strictly for the educational
and informative purposes. This material is distributed without profit.

On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 10:03:58 +0000, JoyB
wrote:


Hi

I have a beautiful Hosta and every year it gets eaten by snails. I
wondered if anyone has any tips on how to stop this from happening. I
can't use slug pellets because of the pets and children. Any
information would be appreciated.

Joy


Find the product called "Sluggo." It contains the ingrediant iron
sulphate which kills the snails and slugs, safe for pets and children.
We use pine needles as a mulch which snails do not like. Other
materials include hardwood ashes, charcoal, pine bark chips, copper,
diatomaceous earth, eggshells, gravel, hair, lime, quackgrass, sand,
and sawdust. Slugs and snails do NOT like azaleas, apricot, basil,
beans, chard, daffodils, ginger, holly, sage, and rhubarb. Predators
include backbirds, ducks, frogs, toads, lizards, and snakes. Have you
tried attending beer traps daily?

"William Wagner" wrote in message
...
In article ,
JoyB wrote:

Hi

I have a beautiful Hosta and every year it gets eaten by snails. I
wondered if anyone has any tips on how to stop this from happening. I
can't use slug pellets because of the pets and children. Any
information would be appreciated.

Joy

Consider ESCAR-GO

Active ingredient by weight 1% Iron Phosphate
Inert 99% could be blended bread.

Anyone know where to obtain Iron Phosphate? I ask about once a year.

Stuff is expensive but works and is not toxic.

Other brand names using iron phosphate are Sluggo and Safer's Slug & Snail
Bait. Here's a good article:

http://www.paghat.com/slugcontrol.html

Jim

Thank you very much for your advice, it's appreciated

Thanks for the info and the link Jim, I found it very useful

you can also try some granite grit for pigeons. it is usually more easily found and
cheaper to buy. Ingrid

Kathie wrote:


Hi, Joy,
You need to pour diatomaceous earth, available at garden centers, in a
circle around the base of the plant on top of the soil. Put down a
good amount and make sure to complete your circle. Diatomaceous earth
is little sharp granules over which the snails do not like to crawl.
It is usually the ideal solution. Reapply after a series of heavy
rains (so, this year, no problema apparently--once should do the whole
summer..( )


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

Snails and slugs (their naked cousins) are more of a problem during cool,
rainy years, but they do have a taste for hostas. The good news is that
they also have a taste for beer. You can make traps by placing containers
with a bit of beer near the hosta, with the lip of the container level with
the ground for easy entry. Keep trapping till you only catch a few here and
there.

Another option is a newspaper trap. Slugs prefer to spend the daytime in
damp, dark places, so make them a cozy daytime hideout. Take a section of
newspaper as it comes from the press and unfold it once. Roll it into a
tube @ an inch or so in diameter. Crush one end shut and slightly dampen
the inside. Set your trap(s) out before dusk and check the next day. If
you were successful, crush the other end of the tube and toss.

Good luck!
Suzy, Zone 5, Wisconsin

"JoyB" wrote in message
...

Hi

I have a beautiful Hosta and every year it gets eaten by snails. I
wondered if anyone has any tips on how to stop this from happening. I
can't use slug pellets because of the pets and children. Any
information would be appreciated.

Joy


--
JoyB

Thanks for all you advice, it's much appreciated

Diatomaceous earth is little sharp granules over which the snails do
not like to crawl.

For the very same reason (little sharp granules) your lungs don't like
it either. I wouldn't advise using this anywhere near where kids might
get into it.

I have a large Hosta bed along the north side of our house (Hostas love
shade) that would explode with lush foilage every spring, only to get
decimated in summer by the slugs.

I finally got rid of them, quite by accident. Two years ago, in the
fall, after everything had died back, I throughly chopped down and
raked out and burned up all the debris and red "mulch" (that the
previous owner had put down to control weeds), all the way down to bare
soil. The following spring the slug damage was greatly reduced. I did
the same thing the following fall, and the spring after that there was
virtually no slug damage. I assume there's a cause and effect going
on here, although it's too small of a sample to say for sure.

I like granite grit.. the stuff fed to pigeons. a ring around the plant. it also
gives up nutrients to the soil. Ingrid

"Ether Jones" wrote:


Diatomaceous earth is little sharp granules over which the snails do
not like to crawl.

For the very same reason (little sharp granules) your lungs don't like
it either. I wouldn't advise using this anywhere near where kids might
get into it.

I have a large Hosta bed along the north side of our house (Hostas love
shade) that would explode with lush foilage every spring, only to get
decimated in summer by the slugs.

I finally got rid of them, quite by accident. Two years ago, in the
fall, after everything had died back, I throughly chopped down and
raked out and burned up all the debris and red "mulch" (that the
previous owner had put down to control weeds), all the way down to bare
soil. The following spring the slug damage was greatly reduced. I did
the same thing the following fall, and the spring after that there was
virtually no slug damage. I assume there's a cause and effect going
on here, although it's too small of a sample to say for sure.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan