On Mon, 12 May 2008 21:40:58 +0100, robert <robertNews@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
~In message <821g24pfp55g17ji5134u24eh1kiofr7vm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, jane
~<jane@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes
~>
~>I bought some adhesive copper tape from the Organic Garden Catalogue
~>and have stuck it round the potting shed window to stop them getting
~>in, and also around the large pot of my main hosta plant.
~>
~>Sadly they don't seem to be stopped by it - keep having to remove
~>snails from under the pot rim daily... have to admit I was rather
~>disappointed. I'm just hoping that some are discouraged and I don't
~>have lace for hosta leaves in a month... but I'm glad I didn't buy
~>slug rings - much more expensive and it would have been really
~>annoying to find they don't work!
~
~The two things that we have learned during the past 3 years of using
~copper tape around containers of hostas are to ensure that you do not
~have any slugs hiding under the container rim before applying the tape
~(and check for any minute beasts already in the container at this time
~of year) and
~standard copper slug barrier tape works very well on slugs but not on
~snails (apparently there is a serrated edge copper tape that is supposed
~to work on snails and slugs but it is of course, more expensive.
~Luckily we have very few snails as we have some permanently hungry
~thrushes.
I put the tape round before this year's growth started, so I know
there weren't any snails hiding at that point! I suspect the leaves
are better than they would have been without the tape, but not
perfect.
I did see the serrated stuff but figured I'd probably flatten it while
rolling the pot out of the way of the lawnmower!
I have at least two frogs in the garden (as we had a load of spawn!),
and we do have song thrushes. So I guess I've got the best organic
mollusc catchers possible. I keep hoping for another thrush nest - we
had one last year but the daft twit built it literally by the front
door and kept getting scared off every time we went in or out. (I have
no idea how she managed to build it at all!) Got a bit crazy, two
adults sneaking in and out of the house in the hope we wouldn't scare
her off, and we had to postpone our window replacement, but in the end
she abandoned the nest, sadly.
This year we've only got blue tits, which are pretty useless for
snails but at least I shouldn't have too many caterpillars.
You win some, you lose some.
jane
Chiltern Hills, 140m above sea level.
Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!
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