I sometimes use them to measure sections on the ground for sowing and to temporarily mark rows while I'm working. They also make excellent slug skewers; gross but satisfying.

Lubber skewers????? Another gross but satisfying.

flaflwrgrl said:Lubber skewers????? Another gross but satisfying.

Lubber grasshoppers Marilyn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

Hm. Slugs and Lubbers. Muculent and crunchy. Just add a little salt.

I use them as you do to straightening out small plants (like Neofinetia falcata).
Also, when I treat my orchids for scale, those sticks really get into small crevices to remove them.
And to clean out the small holes on the intake tube on my fish tank pumps.

Slug skewers? Yikes, but not a bad idea.

If a flower stem is bent badly use two skewers with some tape to make a splint.

Thank you for all your comments.

(Makes note to use the word "muculent" in a future post as if always known what it meant).

flaflwrgrl said:Lubber grasshoppers Marilyn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

I use them when planting seeds to make a hole in the planting medium. @flaflwrgrl Never skewered a lubber, but it's an interesting idea, Ann!

I use them to put signs on my plants when I take them to the flea market.

@rocklady
I've never skewered a lubber myself but it's a possibility. Generally, I beat the heck out of them with a trowel or stout stick. Can't stand doing it! I think it's someone on the Fl. forum who uses scissors to cut them in half. Ewwwwwwwwwww!!!! But it gets the job done. I think skewering them would be easier, at least mentally.

Do they damage a lot of plants?

lubbers are sometimes 3 or 4 inches long. They can damage plants. Mostly they take a big bite and go on to something else to take a bite out of it. They are sort of slow moving, so the cats catch them a lot. But they are so indigestible because of the chiten they are made out of, the cats throw them up -- making a mess of chewed up lubbers and cat vomit.

I use skewers to open cat food cans, saves my fingernails.

In the Sierra, the lizards are favorite cat prey. They have a negative impact on digestion and cat health. The more lizards they catch, the skinnier they get..... I don't know the science behind that.

I've seen ONE lubber devour an entire 4' bush in a few hours. In south Fl. they were really colorful & huge! They ate like they were elephants. They are horrid!!!!!! And when adults, they are so hard to kill. I swear they are amour plated. I would have to bring the trowel down HARD on them time after time after time to penetrate that shell. They were really hard to kill & even on the asphalt road which is a hard surface, you would have to beat the heck out of them. Nothing more aggravating than banging them over & over just to see them get up & start hopping away.

My favorite use for skewers, besides all the great ones above, is to use them like chop sticks to pick mealybugs out of plants. Especially useful for orchids as the mealies get 'way down into the crowns and are nearly impossible to dislodge. But the fine pointy ends of the skewers are excellent for that.

Muculent - like succulent but for snails and other mucus-y critters, Glen. We should start our own gardener's dictionary. Perhaps the spelling should be "mucculent" ?

@crittergarden I have seen huge philodendron leaves eaten down to the veins.
@flaflwrgrl When the lubbers are small and there are a lot of them, I do the "lubber stomp" on them.

We are so far off topic it's not even funny, but I am enjoying reading, so here is my two cents worth:

Re: Cats who get skinny/thin after eating lizards -
The lizards when consumed act as an 'anti-nutrient' for the cat and interferes with the cats Biotin.

I hope it is okay to post a quote from this link written by a Vet:
http://askthevettech.com/welco...

"Lizards are not good for cats-period. They have a substance in them called Avidin that can cause the Biotin in their food to become bound up (non-absorbable), making it unavaiable and we have seen cats nearly starve to death by eating them. They act like a cat with leukemia but their color is good, so we know they don’t have FELV. Cats with FELV are very anemic and have no color in their mucous membranes."

:thankyou: