Slugs

[Roberta]

Slugs can be anywhere... I hope that after the photo it got squished. I found one on a C. tigrina hanging 6 (3 m) feet up... Beautiful bunch of buds in the afternoon, one survivor the next morning. Slugs fly (?)... the culprit was found and dispatched.

[Johndeaux22]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Metaldahyde baits don't do much, if anything, against bush snails. May help with the slugs. Or one of the iron phosphate baits like Sluggo also for slugs. Likewise doesn't touch the bush snails. Like any pest, though, one is NOT done. I suspect that the coffee treatment may need to be repeated.

I’m repeating the coffee, with a two week re-treatment, and three week re-treatment to get any that hatch after the initial treatment. From the UofH study, it seems that the baits won’t attract the snails, however, a liquid drench, and apparently dissolved bait pellets in the media did effect control. If this round of coffee treatment doesn’t get them, I’ll be hitting them with metaldehyde pellets watered in.

[qbie]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Slugs can be anywhere... I hope that after the photo it got squished. I found one on a C. tigrina hanging 6 (3 m) feet up... Beautiful bunch of buds in the afternoon, one survivor the next morning. Slugs fly (?)... the culprit was found and dispatched.

I never realized how much damage they can do. Sorry you lost all those flowers! Thought they just ate leaves. When I moved all my plants downstairs last month I saw the roots on one of the sarcochiluses had been gnawed at. Thought it was an animal til I brought them back upstairs and saw more roots of more plants eaten. Finally found a bush snail in one pot and a smaller slug in another. Now I know why those two plants always looked like they were declining.

Didn’t see any activity from these pests before but I guess now that it’s rainy season they’ve come out of hiding.

No, that mom won’t be making anymore babies!

[LexaCat]

I think that one might be a young banana slug. Although most are yellow, they can be a mottled yellow-green like that.

[Roberta]

Slugs are definitely more damaging than bush snails, though the latter can certainly damage roots. I had another plant, I think it was a Polystachya in the greenhouse, that started to have a bunch of eaten leaves. I thought maybe a caterpillar but couldn't find anything when I examined the plant. So I immersed the pot in a small bucket of water and waited. A slug appeared on the rim of the pot. Gasping for breath probably. Dispatched that one, and the plant is now doing fine - leaves a bit munched but it is growing some new ones, it won't get any cultural awards (leaves not pretty), but flowers will be along in their season. No permanent damage.

[qbie]

Originally Posted by LexaCat

I think that one might be a young banana slug. Although most are yellow, they can be a mottled yellow-green like that.

That might only have been a juvenile? Yikes!

[estación seca]

There is nothing like unexpectedly stepping on an adult banana slug barefoot.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by estación seca

There is nothing like unexpectedly stepping on an adult banana slug barefoot.

EWwwww....

[PuiPuiMolcar]

THE bane of my existence, I have never fear spidermite or thrips, but slugs creep up on you at the worst timing. Every time it rain here, I would scatter the whole floor with slug bait, and I never miss a day.
I find physically removing them after dunking the orchid is quite effective, and come back with another coffee dunk to get rid of the small ones. It's incredibly tedious work but it does get the job done for me. That's why it's all about prevention for me now.

Originally Posted by qbie

Speaking of these buggers, did I just find the mother of all mothers?? Yeesh. I guess that’s what I get for trying to keep part of a parent plant that looked pretty “iffy”!

this is one of the slug that is destroying the Hungtington Library Green house. The reason why it is still closed to this day is because of them.

[Rwhb12]

I wonder if a band of twisted copper wire around the stem lying on the media may stop them?

Russ