What's looking good in April 2017

[Beverly]

Green, green, and more green.
Agastache grown from seed newly transplanted, 4 in a row.

More Agastache grown from seed newly transplanted 4 in a row plus one wayward one. Aluminum foil to protect from slugs

Jasmine nitidum. Have you ever seen such leaves? Well yes, you probably have. This is all new growth since a transplant 26 March and lots of buds ready to burst into bloom.

 

[vette-kid]

I'm guessing it's a Croton.

Believe you are correct, thanks

 

[Sheal]

@Beverly that's the first time I've seen foil used to keep slugs at bay, does it work 100%?

 

[Beverly]

that's the first time I've seen foil used to keep slugs at bay, does it work 100%?

For larger areas, i use copper tubing, but i think the aluminum foil is more reliable. One year i had a terrible time with slugs and did not have a good organic option. I had planted a small grouping of dahlias, had read somewhere about aluminum foil, and since the slugs had eaten just about every thing else, i tried it on the dahlia seedlings and not one seedling was touched. So the dahlias survived and grew well. It was the first time i had planted dahlias and i decided that i don't really like dahlias, so in the end, i pulled them up I have used it occasionally since that experience around seedlings that i don't want to take a chance on and so far, for me, it has worked 100%.

 

[MaryMary]

Look how pretty this is! Smells good, too. It's growing in a thick patch where my front walk meets the sidewalk. (No, they are not weeds!)

While I was looking at the flower bed, two of the cats were looking good.

This is Dunder. (Because he is a Dunderhead.)

This one's name is... probably better censored in the forum.

Spoiler

Kitty... Just make it rhyme.

 

[Daren]

For larger areas, i use copper tubing, but i think the aluminum foil is more reliable. One year i had a terrible time with slugs and did not have a good organic option. I had planted a small grouping of dahlias, had read somewhere about aluminum foil, and since the slugs had eaten just about every thing else, i tried it on the dahlia seedlings and not one seedling was touched. So the dahlias survived and grew well. It was the first time i had planted dahlias and i decided that i don't really like dahlias, so in the end, i pulled them up I have used it occasionally since that experience around seedlings that i don't want to take a chance on and so far, for me, it has worked 100%.

Great Slug beater Beverly I have used Copper strip's round pots Which works well but costs a lot more than Tin foil >....So can't wait to try this out on my potted Hostas I was about to buy loads of copper

 

[Sheal]

Thanks for the info on the foil Beverly, I'll keep that in mind for the future. I'm currently in between gardens.

 

[Beverly]

@Daren ... i think the slugs do not want to cross the barrier because they don't want to crawl up and over. They seem to run into the barrier and take a detour around. This is what i think anyway because of the slime trail. So i am not sure how well a strip of foil would work. I have always doubled the foil up and crunched it a bit to create some altitude and a crinkled surface.

 

[Daren]

@Daren ... i think the slugs do not want to cross the barrier because they don't want to crawl up and over. They seem to run into the barrier and take a detour around. This is what i think anyway because of the slime trail. So i am not sure how well a strip of foil would work. I have always doubled the foil up and crunched it a bit to create some altitude and a crinkled surface.

Still I'm going to have to test this out asp There are two reasons given for copper working as a slug repellent; toxicity and electric shock... my guess would be Tin is still a good for the electric shock treatment And I recone I can shock more with tin, as the foil comes in pounds Cheaper at the supermarket than copper from the garden center.......Its as cheap as Chips

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Beverly it's the first I've heard about using foil to deter slugs!!!! Going to give it a go, thanks .

 

[Beverly]

Cheaper at the supermarket than copper from the garden center......

Wow, you buy copper from a garden center? That does sound expensive. I purchase one meter long copper pieces (for water, for gas is more expensive) (diam 1/2 inch (1.27cm) at a reasonable price in the plumbing section of the hardware store, and connectors and elbows for pennies (well pesos). Initially i purchased a small hand tool for easily cutting the pipe, Now i can make any shape/size (except circles that i need and change the configurations as the garden changes. I use the same copper over and over again. I find a lot of useful things for the garden in the hardware store plumbing section.

I wondered what slugs had against copper. Is there something in the physiology that creates shock? I have seen slug slime on a copper tube, but i have also seen a dead slug a short distance away. Would copper have the same effect on caterpillars do you think?

 

[MaryMary]

@Daren ... i think the slugs do not want to cross the barrier because they don't want to crawl up and over. They seem to run into the barrier and take a detour around. This is what i think anyway because of the slime trail. So i am not sure how well a strip of foil would work. I have always doubled the foil up and crunched it a bit to create some altitude and a crinkled surface.

I think it is either something about the tin foil, or it is the crinkled surface.


Last summer, I learned that slugs love dry cat food. They pass all the plants in the flower bed, crawl up the porch - and then across it, ( at least 5 feet,) - in order to scale the food bowl, and gorge themselves on cat food.

With a lot of cats, I use a fairly big bowl, and from what I can tell, Beverly, your rings aren't much higher than the bowl. If it works 100% of the time, it must be something about the tin or the crinkles that repels them. (I think I will wrap the cats' food bowl in crinkled tin foil. )


Oh!! And slugs can tell time, believe it or not. The cats get their last meal when I get home from work, about 10 pm. If I was an hour late taking the cats their dinner, there would be anywhere from 5-10 slugs waiting around the bowl when I opened the door!!



I will not live on their schedule!!

 

[Dinu]

A Daylily.

Leucas aspera.

Summer showers always brings these Football Lilies up.

Rain Lilies shoot up within five days of the first heavy rain of summer. Last week.

 

[Beverly]

I'm not sure now @MaryMary a strip might work if the lethal factors are shock and toxicity

@Dinu definitely looking good for April. Flowers and photos of flowers are smashing

 

[zigs]