There are large holes in my plant leaves.some leaves are completely eaten away,on pansies and dalhias.There are holes in my roses also.Is this done by slugs or some other insect.I do have a lot of slugs.What can I use to get rid of them? |
Slugs may very well be the culprits in your garden! They love to hide in cool, moist areas, so try to eliminate their hiding places. Remove garden debris, old boards, stones, etc. from your yard. You can trap slugs by inverting a clay pot in the garden, propping it up with small rocks. The slugs will crawl in to hide and you can scrape them out each morning, replacing the trap each day so more will enter. You can go out into the garden at night and go slug-hunting by flashlight. Skewer them with a sharp stick or pick them up with a gloved hand. You can also trap slugs with traps filled with stale beer. They are attracted by the odor, will crawl in and drown. Make a beer trap by cutting one-inch openings on three sides of a cottage cheese or margarine tub, just below the rim. Put an inch or two of beer in the container and snap on the lid. (This keeps curious pets and children out of the bait!) Then bury the tub into the soil so the openings are about an inch above the top of the soil. The slugs will crawl in and drown. By keeping the openings above the soil level you'll keep beneficial ground beetles from accidentally falling into your trap. |