Rid Your Garden of Slugs

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Words: 435 words Copyright: 2005 Marilyn Pokorney

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Slugs are major pests of horticultural plants throughout world. They are destructive pests of home gardens, landscapes, nurseries, greenhouses, and field crops.

Slugs also pose a health threat to humans, pets and wildlife by serving as intermediate hosts for parasites such as lungworm.

Slugs are inactive in cold weather and hibernate in soil.

Heavy mulching and watering, required for productive and beautiful gardens create favorable conditions for slugs.

Slugs destroy plants by killing seeds or seedlings, by destroying stems or growing points, or by reducing leaf area. Slug feeding may also initiate mold growth or rotting.

Slugs feed on a variety of living plants chewing holes in leaves, flowers, fruit and young bark. They are also serious pests of ripening fruits, such as strawberries and tomatoes, that are close to ground. However, they will also feed on foliage and fruit of some trees favoring citrus. Some plants that are seriously damaged include artichokes, asparagus, basil, beans, cabbage, dahlia, delphinium, hosta, lettuce, marigolds, and many more plants too numerous to list here. To determine if damage is caused by a slug or other insect, look for a clear, silvery mucous trail.

Pruning Roses

1. Prune from ground up. Most people start at top and this can harm rose and it uses your valuable time.
   
   

2. If it’s old, gray and scraggly looking, cut it off.
   
   

3. If there are canes that are growing directly over center, use your pruning saw or loppers and cut flush with cane. Also remove any canes that are really crowding each other. Now you are ready to continue pruning.
   
   

4. When it comes to height remember this: mentally divide cane into three equal parts and get ready to remove top one-third. First, however check on outward facing bud. It should be located at intersection of cane and a leaflet of five. There should be several and if possible find one that faces out.
   
   

5. If you have doubts, cut it off. If it’s smaller than a pencil it will only produce even smaller stems. For larger canes be sure to seal with a drop of plain white glue like Elmer’s. This will prevent borers from eating your plants.