Something has eaten the nice first two (and only) leaves off my three
sunflower seedlings (about two inches tall). Just the leaves, nowt else.
Another one, which came on earlier, which is about four inches tall, has not
been touched.

Slugs ? Nothing else in the garden has been eaten or even nibbled it looks
like (well, apart from the decimated lillies due to lily beetle, anyway).

Garden is fenced with a foot foot chainlink fence and gate so I doubt cats.
Could be meeces or some similar rodent ? New to garden troubles (and
gardens) here.


Rachael

"Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat" wrote in
:

Something has eaten the nice first two (and only) leaves off my three
sunflower seedlings (about two inches tall). Just the leaves, nowt
else. Another one, which came on earlier, which is about four inches
tall, has not been touche

If it were my garden I'd say slugs - in fact probaly just one slug that's
hanging about somewhere close at hand - look under pots and check in the
late evening when they come out to munch.

They will often eat small seedlings first - can't be bothered to climb up
the taller ones - or eat leaves but leave tough stem.

But be wary, because once they've eaten the little ones, they usually
decide to go on to the taller ones. :-(

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

Snails love sunflowers. After previous disappointments, I kept mine indoors
until they were about 18 inches (in old money). Then planted them out, with a
sawn-off bottle around the stem. Still managed to find a pair of snails who'd
snuck in and were dining on the remaining leaves on one plant. They met the Boot
of Justice.

Edwin
Bath.

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
. 240.23...
"Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat" wrote in
:

Something has eaten the nice first two (and only) leaves off my three
sunflower seedlings (about two inches tall). Just the leaves, nowt
else. Another one, which came on earlier, which is about four inches
tall, has not been touche

If it were my garden I'd say slugs - in fact probaly just one slug that's
hanging about somewhere close at hand - look under pots and check in the
late evening when they come out to munch.

They will often eat small seedlings first - can't be bothered to climb up
the taller ones - or eat leaves but leave tough stem.

But be wary, because once they've eaten the little ones, they usually
decide to go on to the taller ones. :-(

I think I'll put some beer out to be on the safe side.

I used to suffer from them getting in the house (though I can't imagine
where they got in but that's slugs for you) but so far I've not seen one in
the garden this year. I've got alot of birds around (lots of trees over the
back fence, bushes, that sort of stuff, where birdies can set up home) and
I've seen a few thrushes eating the few snails I get down the other end of
the garden so maybe that's why. The odd thing is nothing else has been
touched, including some very low growing seedings right nearby. Makes me
wonder why they don't want those as well.



Rachael

"Edwin Spector" wrote in message
...
Snails love sunflowers. After previous disappointments, I kept mine
indoors
until they were about 18 inches (in old money). Then planted them out,
with a
sawn-off bottle around the stem. Still managed to find a pair of snails
who'd
snuck in and were dining on the remaining leaves on one plant. They met
the Boot
of Justice.

Just as well I've got some seeds germinating as we speak then. Maybe I'll
save them indoors for abit.
I've always wanted to try sunflowers but not had much of a garden till this
year. The cut-off bottle is a good tip, I'll remember that, ta.


Rachael

"Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat" wrote in message
...
Something has eaten the nice first two (and only) leaves off my three
sunflower seedlings (about two inches tall). Just the leaves, nowt else.
Another one, which came on earlier, which is about four inches tall, has
not
been touched.

Slugs ? Nothing else in the garden has been eaten or even nibbled it looks
like (well, apart from the decimated lillies due to lily beetle, anyway).

Garden is fenced with a foot foot chainlink fence and gate so I doubt
cats.
Could be meeces or some similar rodent ? New to garden troubles (and
gardens) here.


Rachael

If the stems remain then the axillary buds might be untouched and
regenerate.
Good luck Brian.

"Edwin Spector" wrote in message
...
Snails love sunflowers. After previous disappointments, I kept mine
indoors
until they were about 18 inches (in old money). Then planted them out,
with a
sawn-off bottle around the stem. Still managed to find a pair of snails
who'd
snuck in and were dining on the remaining leaves on one plant. They met
the Boot
of Justice.

Apparently if you put sharp grit or crushed eggshell around the plants,
slugs and snails will leave them alone cos it hurts their slimey little
tummies. Salt also will stop them. A ring of cheapo lidl table sale and
your plants are slug safe.

"Edwin Spector" wrote in message
...
Snails love sunflowers. After previous disappointments, I kept mine
indoors
until they were about 18 inches (in old money). Then planted them out,
with a
sawn-off bottle around the stem. Still managed to find a pair of snails
who'd
snuck in and were dining on the remaining leaves on one plant. They met
the Boot
of Justice.

Edwin
Bath.

******************
They should have met the metal caulkers on the wooden sole of your clog!.
Doug.
******************

The message
from "Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat" contains
these words:

Slugs ? Nothing else in the garden has been eaten or even nibbled it looks
like (well, apart from the decimated lillies due to lily beetle, anyway).

Slugs and snails. They love sunflowers.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message SFZtc.75$8q3.40@newsfe3-gui
from "good golly miss Molly" contains these words:

Apparently if you put sharp grit or crushed eggshell around the plants,
slugs and snails will leave them alone cos it hurts their slimey little
tummies. Salt also will stop them. A ring of cheapo lidl table sale and
your plants are slug safe.

But die of salt poisoning.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
k...
The message SFZtc.75$8q3.40@newsfe3-gui
from "good golly miss Molly" contains these words:

Apparently if you put sharp grit or crushed eggshell around the plants,
slugs and snails will leave them alone cos it hurts their slimey little
tummies. Salt also will stop them. A ring of cheapo lidl table sale and
your plants are slug safe.

But die of salt poisoning.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Salt is an even more effective way of killing plants than importing giant
snails!
Brian

On Sun, 30 May 2004 11:50:56 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

The message
from "Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat" contains
these words:

Slugs ? Nothing else in the garden has been eaten or even nibbled it looks
like (well, apart from the decimated lillies due to lily beetle, anyway).

Slugs and snails. They love sunflowers.

What about field-mice?

"Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat" wrote in
:

The odd thing is nothing else has been
touched, including some very low growing seedings right nearby. Makes me
wonder why they don't want those as well.


You didn't happen to mention that you weren't so keen on those seedlings
where the slugs could hear you ? ;-)

I find slugs tend to home in on things that have recently been planted out,
and will ignore self-sown seedlings nearby - even of plants that they
scromped the previous year.

I suspect the plants emit some hormone that says 'I am a bit stressed' or
something, when they are just planted out, and that slugs like that.

Same as how greenfly always seem to be able to tell when you forgot to
water something.

I would like to know why with an entire pumpkin plant to eat, the SLUGS
chose to concentrate on one small area of stem, and ate right through the
damn thing so the head fell off....

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

The message
from Victoria Clare contains these words:

I would like to know why with an entire pumpkin plant to eat, the SLUGS
chose to concentrate on one small area of stem, and ate right through the
damn thing so the head fell off....

'Cos they like playing hide-and-seek with you afterwards?

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from Victoria Clare contains these words:

I would like to know why with an entire pumpkin plant to eat, the SLUGS
chose to concentrate on one small area of stem, and ate right through the
damn thing so the head fell off....

'Cos they like playing hide-and-seek with you afterwards?

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/