Slug Damage
 

I got up yesterday morning and found what appeared to look like a snail damage on my beautiful yellow cattleya flower.

Little bushsnails only stay on the ground level and eat roots and new shoots, and that's the only kind of snail I've had issues with on my orchids.
I looked for somethign bigger but couldn't find any big garden snails anywhere.

I waited until evening fell.

Well, I found decent sized slug sitting on the same flower. I tortured it to death for ruining my pleasure.
I sprinkled some salt on it and you know what happened next. :evil:

They can be such a pain! Here we have 6 inch slugs. I got out the Safer's slug bait but I also sprinkle Epsom salts around the area and set up traps using pie plates with yeast and water [that way you don't have to give up any of your beer!] At least our 7 inch native banana slugs don't bother the garden. The European garden slugs are the worst problem, along with banded snails.

So sorry NY :(

I hate those things. They can do a lot of damage very quickly.

Yuck! They are gross on so many levels. I'm glad to caught the bugger. I've been told that they won't cross copper tape, so you can put some on the edges of benches or on the legs if you use benches outside.

I've also learned to be vigilant for them on my inside plants as they can lay eggs in the medium which hatch when it started to warmer inside in the spring!

6 inch slugs??? They would look so gross!!!
One 6 inch slug will eat up good half of a cattleya flower as the one I found on my flower was barely over 2inch.

You need some garden snakes to eat those big slimy buggers. :lol:

I've tried beer thing but never worked for me.
Maybe little bushsnails are not attracted to beer.

---------- Post added at 02:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 PM ----------

It could have been worse, but at least the damaged flower is partially covered by the undamaged flower, so at a distance, they still look nice.

---------- Post added at 02:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:35 PM ----------

This is the first time I saw a big (big for me) slug.
I usually suffer damage from little bushsnails.
I use veggie slices to keep the population down, but apparently many of them stay inside the pot and never come out.

They must eat a little bit of growing roots here and there as plants are in general not affected, well, so it seems.
The only time I had serious damage by bushsnail was two years ago when the new shoots on my dendrobiums were being eaten up. That's when I first found out about the little snails. Those two new shoots eventually survived after I ran a few nightly patrols of the snails and grew nicely.

---------- Post added at 02:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:38 PM ----------

I have all my plants inside.
I do believe most of them live inside the pot and never come out as I keep trying to catch them as much as I can, I always find some.

I am thinking of repotting the ones with the most snails. Well, maybe all the ones with snails as not every pot has them.

Last night, I caught about a dozen. Two big ones, and a few super tiny babies that are also very lightly colored, and the rest are a little smaller than the adults.
must be their breeding season.

I have to admit that I enjoy squeezing/popping them to death! :evil: :biggrin:

Thinking of the members of this discussion is absolute right about slugs.If you found any slug in you garden try to remove it as soon as possible.Professional experienced company

We have very dry summers here and it can be an advantage. The disappear during the hot, dry times. As soon as we get a little rain I start watching for them.