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why are slugs so attracted to hostas...

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janzman | 07:04 Tue 07th Aug 2012 | Gardening
13 Answers
...This is an ongoing problem so this year I put a hosta in a fairly large container on my patio.The container is round metal and about 13ins high,like a miniature old fashioned steel dustbin.Almost every morning there are at least one or two slugs on the bin either slithering up for a feed or down.
What is it about hostas that so atttracts slugs to slither up and down a vertical surface of more than a foot.
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It must be that they're tasty, tasty, very very tasty, to the slugs.
I won't plant hostas because of slugs, the poor plants look awful after they've had a savaging. I read somewhere that WD40 sprayed around the container might stop slugs as it's too slippery for them to climb up, might be worth a try, just make sure there are no slugs already lurking in the container.
Supposedly slugs don't like rough,or sharp surfaces,so putting pots on a layer of decorative stone may help.
Put the pot in a tray of water then go out at night and pick off any slugs that have been isolated in the pot. make sure the pot isn't near enough to anything so the slugs can reach across. This works with my tomatoes.
Start saving up your eggshells and crush them to form s nice protective barrier round the hostals. Snails and slugs don't like crawling over sharp surfaces. Make sure you don't leave any gaps.
I've not tried them but for potted hostas you can buy copper bands to put around the containers.

I've never tried any of these solutions as I buy pest resistant hostas and they have proved to be just that, no slug damage at all.
Just put a ring of slug pellets round the pot.
Hostas are to sluggies as cake is to B00.
I've put the copper bands around my Hostas in old barrels, seems to work quite well as long as there is no other plants overhanging so that they can gain access that way.
Copper bands are really good ..also if you get a big jar of cheap vaseline and paint that in a line around the pot ,they won't cross a greasy surface .You may need to reapply it after rain .Or put a beer trap down near the plant .They'll practically run for the beer and leave your precious hosta alone while they drown in an alcoholic haze :)
I've never seen so many slugs as there are this year. I discovered just this weekend that WD40 says on the can to spray it on the outside of tubs and pots to stop and kill slugs.
put some vaseline round top of pot
Because whoever lived here before me planted a load of them. Also planted carex pendula which has taken me years to almost eradicate, neighbours have it, seeds invasive.

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