Tick Count, Hosta Fatalities, Dog Car!!
As of last week, I'd picked up seven ticks so far this year. Seven which actually bit me. Six of which glommed onto me in one ten-day period. Only five of which were removed in one piece. I've had all three life stages, too, nymph and juvenile and adult ( Read more... )
With that many losses you need a wake! That's terrible and I thought my ongoing slug issues were bad. This year I'm trying adhesive copper tape around the pots, it's supposed to give gastropods a shock when they try to slime over it.
This is why I fear gardening on your side of the pond. You have such a range of hazards to plant life, unknown to me here!
Chip monks eat hostas?
Who knew?!!
Oh and by the by, have you tried surfinias as an alternative to petunias? They are f1 hybrids but flower about 3 to 4x more vigorously than the average petunia.
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And I might remember to say how much I've missed you!
Are you still moving over here?
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Yes still am, on a K3 visa some 3 - 6 months after my nuptuals next May.
All very scary, overwhelming and wonderful. I'll believe it when I'm there!
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Sister! Sister dearest!
::: wails along with you :::
Do tell me how the copper tape works out. My hosta buddies on GardenWeb and I have heard of it, but none have tried it.
We tend to rely on products such as Sluggo and diatomaceous earth (itty bitty shell fragments which make slugs die the death of a thousand cuts) and some hardy (and hard-hearted) souls seriously go out in the middle of the night with flashlights and spray bottles of ammonia (10% in water) which causes hideous death.
But the diatoms also hurt other insects... eeew, here's a UK site which recommends hair clippings! I say "eeew" but I'm thinking "I'll try that."
Sluggo (iron phosphate) is harmless to children and "pets" - by which they mean cats and dogs - don't know how it affects earthworms.
I asked around for some way of killing slugs which is painless to them and everyone looked at me (even online!) as though I were insane.
Chipmunks usually don't bother hostas, except by accident - letting their roots hang in air as they tunnel beneath them. ( ... )
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I will definitely watch for them next year! They sound like a superior plant compared to our local version, the "wave petunia."
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Slug repellants. I've tried the human hair thing, but it wasn't terribly practical. It was a complete bugger to make stay put and most of it blew away.
As for humane slug despatch, have you tried beer traps? There's a how to here http://monsterguide.net/how-to-make-beer-traps-for-slugs
At least that way they come to a more pleasant end than tipping salt over them.
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Y'know, I cannot tell you how much your dramatic sympathy actually makes me feel better.
It just helps to know someone understands this kind of loss!
::: tears own hair :::
Savant has placed vole traps. Or chipmunk traps. Whatever we catch, that's the kind of traps they will be. JIHAD!!!
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