A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 More Hosta questions...

Those are some beautiful hostas and it look like wonderful shade garden. I think ponds are so neat, and I would love to have one!

Why wasta a good beer? Go for the oat bran or ammonia. Both work.

Just read the posts after oat the bran thing. Sorry for the delay - after they eat the oat bran, they will bloat up, as the oat bran expands inside them. They crawl away and die - not exploding (I haven't seen any exploded bodies to speak of).
I guess I'm just a lazy and picky gardener - I don't have the time to crush the eggshells, I don't want to spend a fortune on commercial killers that may or may not work, and I don't want to waste a good beer! So the oat bran thing works for me - while I'm admiring all the nice plants, I just sprinkle it around the beds.
I just put some down last week, ane then we got lots and lots of rain. plants are all OK still - no holes in leaves. It not only works for hostas, but all plants. Good luck.

Those are some incredible looking Hosta's you have there , well done!!

Uhhh...I'm a little dramatic sometimes!

Ha! All you guys are great!

Here's a couple of other nasty weapons for you slug warriors. I haven't tried either, so I can't vouch for them, but the first was mentioned in 2 different books I have--"Great Garden Shortcuts" and "Great Garden Formulas" The recipes differ just slightly. The first says to use 1 part nonsudsing ammonia and 2 parts water, the second says to use equal parts nonsudsing ammonia and water in a spray bottle. "The slug dissolves in milliseconds"

The other method (also from "Great Garden Shortcuts") says to get a bag of hair clippings from your local barbershop. This from Mike McGrath, former editor-in-chief of Organic Gardening Magazine, after seeing the damage slugs had done to his garden--"I wanted to inflict pain and suffering". He then explained--"When slugs try to crawl across human hair, they get all tangled up, and they strangle and die"

Mike McGrath RULES! OG was AWESOME when he was the editor.