Something is eating the stems of my plants

[crumblepenny]

Hello. Can anybody tell me which pest is attacking my plants? It gouges great holes in the stems of my Daturas, Dahlias and Lobelias. It doesn't touch the leaves, but of course the stems die and that's the end of my plants. I've added a couple of photographs, they're not particularly good quality but should give an idea of what the problem is.

[digger]

looks like slug damage

[Neil Bromhall]

You're good Digger
Quick, accurate and no messing. I love it. Brilliant.

Copper strips around the pots are apparently a good deterrent for slugs for pots plants and nematode worms are good for spraying on the soil in the garden (but not good for potted plants)

[sue1002]

I've put copper tape around all my pots, it seems to be working at keeping the slugs out but not the snails, they must be jumping over it, even though I've put a double layer on. Every day this week I've had to take a huge snail out of the pot with Lisianthus in it.

[Crackers]

I wrote about this.

Richard Loader of Atwag patiently photographed a snail as it tried to tackle a copper band. Follow the links,

http://www.landscapejuice.com/2007/05/copper_takes_th.html

[crumblepenny]

Thanks for the copper tip, I will definitely give it a try.

I don't actually think it is slugs though. Someone did suggest it may be voles. It seems odd that the damge is halfway up the stems. Wouldn't slugs start from the bottom and work their way up?

[digger]

Not necessarily slugs and snails are devious creatures sometimes they will eat through an entire stem and kill the plant off and sometimes they slither up and down until they find a piece they fancy eating,no doubt if you investigate the pot thoroughly you will find the culprit hiding .

[Paul Narramore]

Was there any trace of slug trails either on the stems, leaves or the surrounding soil? I would side with Digger that it is most likely slugs. Don't forget that when flower pots are on the ground, slugs can climb up and enter the compost in the pot from the small drainage hole, then copper or no copper, they are in the compost. I've often found a lot of slug eggs when I've repotted a plant. I would repot yours, carefully change all of the compost, then try the copper band method. Keep the base of the pot clear of the ground too.

[Miranda]

Something to watch out for with that copper tape, crumblepenny - if you get any snaggly bits as you're putting the tape on watch out for your finger tips as you smooth the tape out, as the edges are really sharp. I managed to get two nice cuts on my thumbs last year.

[digger]

Ouch miranda i bet that stung! I have seen the copper tape once but it did seem a little expensive, however this year so far has been slug and snail heaven quite warm and really damp just the ticket for horrible slugs the other evening OH went out into the back garden to check for hedgehogs before letting the dogs out and there were loads of slugs slithering about,as Paul rightly points out if the pot has been on the ground a sneaky slug could have slithered in and then it's irrelevant how much tape is around the pot because slimy is already in there causing havoc maybe a couple of slug pellets in the pot will lure the slug/snail out of hiding.

[sue1002]

My little finger suffered the same fate as Miranda's thumbs the first time I used it, after that I put on some gloves. Wilkos are selling rolls of it for £3.99 for 4 metres.

[Miranda]

It did sting a lot, digger. Oh, the language! Still, it kept the slugs off the plant, that was the main thing. As you say, you still have to check that they haven't got in through the bottom of the pot.

Wilkos are selling rolls of it for £3.99 for 4 metres - that's logged away, Sue. Thanks.

[digger]

Yes thats a good price i will check our wilkos tommorow, I should be riding George tommorow but My friend who takes me riding out has got Jury service!!! and she couldn't get out of it even though she is a milk cow farmer she has to milk the cows before going to court to be on the jury and my friend who owns the horse riding farm would have taken me but unfortunately she has got an appointment so i will miss out tommorow so to cheer myself up wilkos it is.

[jill]

I spent a very happy, albeit busy, day at Gardening Scotland in June – one of the many ongoing garden shows of the summer season.

I don’t know if slugs are all the rage (literally in some cases!) in Edinburgh (as well as elsewhere) at the moment, but it certainly seemed to be a hot topic of conversation and everyone was feeling the same frustration of having tried everything from pellets to mats, to beer, to salt, to picking up and throwing over the wall into the neighbour’s yard, but still with little or no improvement.

Never being one to miss an opportunity to be able to explain the benefits of a Ronaash (http://www.ronaash.co.uk) product, I entered into the discussions eagerly and was surprised to discover that very few of the people I was talking to realised that the slugs they saw on the surface of the soil only represented 10% of the actual slug population living in that area below the soil. Slugs essentially spend a great part of their time underground (that is where they breed) and as they do not have a shell like snails, they do not like to be exposed to sunlight (dry out very quickly).

This of course explains the limited effectiveness of any anti-slug programme that targets the beastie above ground.

So the solution is found in a product which tackles the problem at its root – below the ground. Nemaslug does exactly this by the use of nematodes which are mixed with water and watered onto the area to be treated. These nematodes are millions of microscopic worms which are natural predators of the slug. These microscopic worms are naturally occurring in all soils, but when Nemaslug is used the natural numbers are increased by 12 million. These nematodes then infest the body of the slugs, reproduce in the slug and so the slug problem is tackled quietly and very naturally below the soil surface. Gradually over a period of 6 weeks the nematodes die back to their natural numbers.

This is the only way that you will be able to get at least 6 weeks of slug free plant growth without 6 weeks of hard slog!

[Neil Bromhall]

I've been a strong believer in natural pest control which is why I sell it on the Complete Gardens web site
http://www.complete-gardens.co.uk/shop/shop-gardening-product.php?id=19

It is a safe method of slug control (unless you're the slug) and does not poison the slugs with the ongoing risk that the sick slug is fed to chicks which in turn kills the chick.
You simply spay the minutes nematode worms on the soil where the slugs live. I think it stops the slugs from eating so they basically starve to death - not nice either

[jill]

The interesting thing about these nematodes, which attack slugs, vine weevils, leatherjackets and chafergrubs is that they are harless to anything else so if a chicken did happen to eat th dead slug it would not harm the chicken. The nematodes, when watered onto the soil increase the already existing population of that specific nematode by 10000fold and this increased population slowly decreases back to its original number over a period of 6 weeks which means that we are not engineering nature in any way.

[Miranda]

Is Ronaash your site, Jill? You seem terribly keen to promote it.

[jill]

No Ronaash does not belong to me, but it does carry good products which are very useful to gardeners and especially the Rootrainer which is a great product developed in Canada to grow trees an plants with strong root systems to withstand the harsh weather conditions in the Rockies. These and the other products are also availble from other sites such as Haxnicks, Two Wests and also Complete Gardens. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression, but good products should be shared betwen us all.

[digger]

I've used the roottrainers for my sweet peas and they are okay,good products should be shared you are right in fact have you ever heard of the "carpoon"? a clever invention that stops high speed car chases

[Paul Narramore]

Digger
After my success with sweet peas this year, I am collecting toilet rolls for my next sowing. Have you tried these? Kitchen paper towel rolls are even longer. Would you bother with these? What I like is that the young plant can be put into the ground and the cardboard tube allowed to rot away. I shall certainly stick to the old fashioned varieties with strong scent too.

[sue1002]

I used loo rolls for sweet peas this year for the first time and although the rolls developed some sort of mould, I planted them out in pots as they were and it has not affected the plants in any way.

[digger]

i have used loo rolls for my carrots to get them started and they work fine i haven't tried them for sweet peas. I know people sow them at different times of the year but would the loo rolls stay in tact until it's time to plant them out?

[sue1002]

I started the sweet peas off in the greenhouse in February and they were planted out at the end of April, they stayed intact with no signs of them unrolling, they were packed tightly against each other inside a gravel tray to support each other. I used the loo rolls for the broad beans too.

[digger]

I shall give them a try for next seasons sweet peas, the roottrainers are okay but they are expensive and when growing for exhibition work i need to sow about 50 seeds of each cultivar i am growing which is usually two so i sow 100 seeds or thereabouts and to use roottrainers for them all is too expensive, i have one set of deep roottrainers that cost me £10 and they have room for 20 seeds which is not very practical for me, i have been sowing them in square pots one to a pot which takes considerable room in the greenhouse so loo rolls may be worth a try.