BBC Gardeners' World

Comments

• N Freeland.Somerset

  15 April 2008, 06.53PM

  The best thing to protect your plants from slugs and snails is copper rings and copper tape. Sometimes organic slug pellets. No need for any nasty chemicals.

• molloyc

  15 April 2008, 07.26PM

  I have grown great hostas in pots for four years now with no slug problems. But, can you tell me if I need to change the soil or add feed or something. I just leave the pots alone, let them stay out all winter and they just seem to grow very well.

• gail bergin

  16 April 2008, 12.03AM

  I have 4 hostas slugs don,t really bother with them maybe an odd nibble but if i were to put delphiniums or dahlia,s in the gardens they wouldn't last 5 mins

• Anne

  16 April 2008, 09.01AM

  I put a really thick mulch of builders sand around the spikes as they appear and have found this keeps damage to a minimum.

• The Germinator

  16 April 2008, 05.31PM

  Physical barriers, whether copper or gel are fine on pots and containers, but the only thing I found to be really effective in the borders are nematodes. They are non-chemical and really solved my problems last year. This year I'm going to treat the area around my hosta bed as soon as there's a sign of real growth and the soil's above (I think it's)6 degrees C. However, I'm not so certain that they're quite so effective on snails.

• Eric Verlaak

  16 April 2008, 12.54AM

  Just went through my flickr stats and noticed bbc.co.uk/gardening is linking to some of my hosta pictures, so let me tell you their story as well. They are my first attempt at "growing stuff" myself after receiving them as a gift last year. I've never been much of a gardener, and living in an apartment isn't much of an incentive to become one either. But they just sit in their pot in their little corner of my balcony and do their growing all by themselves, with the occasional helping of water in very dry periods. That way they liven up the concrete jungle and make me feel like the gardener I'm really not. Priceless!

• meryl

  17 April 2008, 05.40PM

  I have heard crushed egg shells are meant to help also coffee grounds. Not that I have tried them as I haven't any hostas yet.

• Lindsay

  17 April 2007, 05.54PM

  I thank my lucky stars that we really don't have a slug or snail problem so my hosta's always put on a fab display. I think encouraging the birds into the garden helps us.

• Robbie

  17 April 2008, 10.03PM

  It makes a change for someone to give such praise to Hostas. I think that they are a wonderful plant and I have been growing them in pots for years. As far as Slugs and Snails are concerned, I use Copper Tape, fixed just below the rim of my pots and have not seen any damage to my Hostas from the "BEASTS".

• Crataegus monogyna

  18 April 2008, 12.23PM

  I too use nematodes very successfully on a Hosta bed but they do NOT work on snails at all. Certainly encouraging wildlife helps protect Hostas, frogs, toads, hedgehogs as well as birds love devouring slugs and snails.

• Gail

  18 April 2008, 07.23PM

  Egg shells didn't work for me last year.slugs 4'' long and snails as big as golf balls it was a all year battle. I had hostas in pots large and small with the sheeps wool pellets surounding them, I've got organic pellets this year ready and waiting. They also ate my lupins and hollyhock. I have a good frog population and hopeing with all my tadpoles i'll triple that, you never know. I will give the copper a go.

• Michelle C

  18 April 2008, 07.34AM

  I will be trying the method of crushed sea shells around my hostas this year and will let you know the results.

• jane

  19 April 2008, 02.30PM

  I grow a lot of Hostas, 1 or 2 have just disappeared, a few have the odd hole but 1 ends up like a lace curtain!!! This is snails not slugs. I think the ones that have vanished may have been slugs. what i dont understand is why one next to another may nt have a mark on it. By the way i also cant keep delphiniums for more than one night!!!

• Hosta Lover

  20 April 2008, 05.47PM

  I have had an increasing collection of Hostas for years now. All are grown in pots and whilst I have never found slugs on them snails are abundant. Any barrier (eggshells, sand, hair etc.) works to a degree but overhanging leaves foil the barrier effect. Coffee grounds are said to work but I have heard recently that using used coffee grounds in the water is a killer for both slugs and snails. This advice comes from Vietnam orchid enthusiasts of which there are many. (I have a close link with VN) I have not tried it yet but plan so to do this season. It is said that the caffeine in the coffee has the same effect to raise their heartbeat with lethal consequences.

• Sarah Ford

  21 April 2008, 10.46AM

  I grow a couple of varieties of Hostas in borders and have always had major problems with slugs and snails - despite encouraging birds into the garden (although the blackbirds always look as if they are doing their best). As I have both cats and dogs I am reluctant to use pellets so this year have bought some copper slug rings by mail order and have already put them around the emerging shoots - seems to be working so far!...

• Yvonne Clegg

  21 April 2008, 01.14PM

  I've got my hostas in pots with fine grit on the soil, these pots in turn sit in a tray which has a good level of grit too - the last 2 years the hostas have been fine.

• Jayne

  22 April 2008, 08.47PM

  I was talking with a friend the other day and she said she had heard that vaseline put just under the rim of the pot helps deter slugs and snails. Haven't tried it yet, but it sounds quite logical.

• Westie

  22 April 2008, 10.31PM

  I just love Hostas, I have about 50 different ones, most of my dwarf hostas i keep in the green house in similar settings to a alpine house, the larger ones in the garden, i find the only way to keep slugs and snails at bay is to check them every couple of days in the early evening or after it has rained, collect all the snails and slugs up in a plastic contains and on the way to work which is along country lanes i let them go theres no houses about so they will not trouble anybody else they have to live too, but not in my garden you will soon cut their numbers down in your garden.

• Hostas

  24 April 2008, 11.53AM

  If you put bran (under a tile or similar to keep it dry) close to vulnerable plants the slugs and snails will eat that instead of beloved plants, with the added satisfaction of seeing that they sort of explode with the swelling bran the birds and other wild life will then clear up the mess without coming to any harm. This method actually works, its inexpensive and perfectly safe for pets, and children too.

• Sally

  29 April 2008, 03.26PM

  I've never grown Hostas for myself but have the care of them in my clients gardens. They seem to flourish in dappled shade and not over moist locations - with very little slug damage; but when planted in a main bed they become, 'plat de jour',to anything that moves. My client of several years standing developed a crush on them last year, and as the plants have arrived, I've settled them in shady spots; but as I've been asked to corner the Hosta market at our local charity plant sale - new places and slug solutions will have to be found, so the 'bran' tip and planting in tubs is timely - thankyou happy gardening

• Ruth

  01 May 2008, 07.30PM

  Slugs and snails will remain a problem as long as there are gardens; but whatever method of removal do not use pellets. Not ever. Instead of recommending them Gardeners World should be campaigning for their removal from the shelves. After our greedy dog died a long and painful death because she could not read that the pellets were an animal repellent, I researched the internet. Government data sheets confirm that metaldahide kills wildlife, cats, dogs, birds and small children. We will not submit even slugs and snails to such a terrible end.

• braynbox

  30 April 2008, 07.30PM

  I grow hostas both in the ground and in pots and I have always used garlic to deter the slugs and snails.Sprinkle with powder or granules,makes no difference,as soon as the tips appear.The slugs and snails hate it!My hostas are beautiful.

• Newbie gardener

  20 May 2008, 10.57PM

  Ok I am going to try some bran nearby and sprinkling garlic on the shoots. But my question is if you were to use the coffee grounds in water would it not clog up the watering can? How do you do that?

• James A-S - reply to Meryl and Newbie gardener

  24 May 2008, 08.33PM

  The coffee grounds should be sprinkled, dry around the plants. If you want a waterable option then garlic will do.

• Nina

  02 June 2008, 05.05PM

  On a recent Gardeners World programme a lady from the National Hosta society told how they dealt with slugs and snails using a "garlic wash" for the plants. She said what the recipe was but I can't remember exactly what it was. Did anyone else see the programme or can anyone help?

• Kate, gardenersworld.com - reply to Nina

  03 June 2008, 10.32AM

  Here you are Nina:

  Una Dunnett's Garlic Wash recipe for Hostas:Crush two bulbs of garlic, then steam or boil them in two pints of water for three to four minutes until they're blanched. Strain mixture and make back up to two pints. Leave it to cool, then mix one tablespoon into a gallon (3.8l) of water, and sprinkle on to hosta leaves in dry weather. Re-apply after it has rained. Good luck, Kate

• jo B

  09 June 2008, 01.07AM

  Tried this new 'garlic wash'. Tried the watered down version on all plants, not just hostas. Went out with torch 3 hours later and caught them all munching. Removed a big snail and gave it a dose of the concentrated garlic brew. It lost balance and swayed from left to right on the paving stone..rolled over after 20mins. I thought it had worked, the snail was there for 2 days..enclosed in a 30" diameter of salt trail(just incase it came alive again) Two days later, heyyy ho..the snail was active and moving again. Sorry, the strongest solution of garlic does not kill snails or slugs. I am back to putting them in a bucket with a sprinkle of salt. Let me not forget to mention that the snail had happily crossed over the band of copper tape wrapped around the pot in order to get to the garlic washed plant.!!!

• donmoore

  28 June 2008, 09.16AM

  I have had a hosta,(twilight) growing in a pot, for 5 years. It is a beautiful plant and by using slug pellets each year, have not had any leaves eaten. I would like to split this plant and repot into containers. When is the best time to do this and what is the best method?

• Mayday

  19 July 2008, 12.04PM

  Lovely Hosta - Convulata convulata, is losing its variegation. Will repot stripey cuttings only but why is this happening? Leaves eaten but no slugs or vine weevil apparent.

• fozzie

  28 July 2008, 03.09PM

  I am sprinkling coffee grounds this summer with great effect for my new hosta in the shade garden. I laid it on really thick (I drink a lot of coffee)as I was a bit weary using it to protect a new plant. I have left room around the stem to water it keeping the grounds reasonably dry. It made the 5 remaining bandits lurking around the water butt and ferns slow right down but hasn't harmed the resident toad. Can easily recommend it for small areas depending on your coffee consumption...

• Paul

  30 July 2008, 01.53PM

  I'm growing 4 hostas in pots at the moment, and can't stop 1 of them from being eaten, no matter what I try.

  The damage certainly looks as if it's being caused by slugs and snails, but I'm wondering if it could possibly be something else.

  I've smeared vaseline round the rim of the pot, to about 3 or 4 cms below it.

  Below this I've got a 5 cm band of copper, with outward-facing anti-snail spikes.

  The pot is standing on a bed of gravel, providing a 5 cm strip round the base of the pot. (I can confirm that the gravel has no deterrent effect that I can see. In fact my snails and slugs seem to quite like it).

  I scattered 2 types of slug pellets (metaldehyde and iron phosphate based) as per the manufacturers instruction, in the gravel, and also actually inside the pot, on the earth.

  That's a grand total of 7 different barriers the little chappies have to get through. I know this is going to stop them. You know it's going to stop them. So why is it that the slugs and snails in my garden now seem to know it? Haven't they read all the advice about protecting hostas on the internet?

  Anyone got any ideas what could be devouring the hosta if it's not slugs or snails? Or is my garden infested with a new mutant breed of ex-SAS, super-intelligent, wily slugs and snails?

• DukeEllington

  06 August 2008, 11.23AM

  The garlic wash isn't supposed to kill snails and slugs !!!!! Its a repellent ...you spray the plant the plant absorbs it. The snails and slugs dont like the taste so they leave that plant alone.