I've got about 18 Hosta plants around my property and they are coming up and looking good but on some of them I'm starting to see holes in the leaves like something is munching away at them.

What is eating them?

How do I stop that? Can I stop that?

Thanks!

Mine started coming up at the very end of December then disappeared. I thought they were goners, but they went ahead and popped up fresh two weeks ago. Got the holes in them as well. But are recovered already.

Maybe when they come up late they are more susceptible to munchers?

Slugs! Slugs love hostas best deterrent is pine straw bedding. The pine straw is to rough and uncomfortable for the slugs.

Slugs generally dine at night so looking during the day you may not find any.

I have also heard using epsom salt in the beds will help. Salt is no good for slugs gooieness. The salt will also generally give your hostas a deeper color.

Hostas are pretty neat. They’ll be nothing visible we’ll clean out the beds once the weather breaks slightly (2 weeks ago for us) then BOOM like 2 days later they are huge.

Slugs it is. Some will say sprinkle cracked eggshells around the hostas for the same reason as the pinestraw, too rough on the tender little slugs. Didn't work for me.

Need more info.

Does it look like an animal (deer, rabbit, etc) is taking a bite out of them or does it look like a bug/insect is eating them?

Do you see anything left behind (e.g. droppings, webs, larvae, eggs, slime trail, etc) on top or bottom of leaves?

Also, before it inevitably gets posted, Diatomaceous Earth controlling slugs is an old wives tale. Here is a good garden myth debunking site and their test on DE powder and slugs.

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Originally posted by tatortodd:


Does it look like an animal (deer, rabbit, etc) is taking a bite out of them or does it look like a bug/insect is eating them?

Small holes in the middle of the leaves, not nibbles by critters like deer or rabbits. I doubt there are deer where I live, but I've seen rabbits.

Sounds like slugs.

Sounds like slugs, but to be sure I'd go out and check the hastas about an hour after sunset. If you don't see any, leave 3 or 4 cups with beer (or even cheaper water, yeast, and sugar) out overnight and check in morning for slugs.

If you find slugs:

the bee safe approach - based on the reading that I did a year ago for my garden (little bastards took a liking to my lettuce and spinach) and my personal results a product containing iron phosphate (e.g. Sluggo) is effective. Have to reapply after it rains.

kill it like grandpa did - use Sevin dust. As long as the hasta is not flowering it'll be fine for the bees.

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Originally posted by olfuzzy:
https://www.greenmountainhosta...ays-to-prevent-them/

Have you personally tried their recommendations? The reason I ask is that the garden myth site I linked earlier debunked their #1, #5, and #6 "solutions."

I had dozens of slugs last year so I tested their DE powder experiment the same way (put down circle of DE powder and place slugs in center) and the little bastards crawled right through it just like they would coffee grounds, epsom salts, and egg shells.

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Hosta plants

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Originally posted by egregore:

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Hosta plants

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https://www.bhg.com/gardening/...ary/perennial/hosta/

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Originally posted by tatortodd:

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Originally posted by egregore:

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Hosta plants

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https://www.bhg.com/gardening/...ary/perennial/hosta/

So that's what they're supposed to look like before the deer make salad out of them.

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Originally posted by egregore:

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Hosta plants

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Originally posted by egregore:

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Hosta plants

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Not mine, just some examples. I’d kill to have some like this:

I picked up a box of this at Lowe's, hopefully it works. Has pretty good reviews:

Anything that likes a salad will eat hostas.

Rabbits, deer, slugs, snails....

The pellets mentioned above will work as will Sevin Dust for the slugs and snails.

Need something a little heavier for the deer (e.g., thirty thirty).

As an alternative to using Hostas as a deer salad, you might try Cora Bells (i.e., Heuchera). Deer don't like eating Heuchera and its performance, use and appearance can be very similar to Hosta.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by x0225095:
Anything that likes a salad will eat hostas.

Rabbits, deer, slugs, snails....

The pellets mentioned above will work as will Sevin Dust for the slugs and snails.

Need something a little heavier for the deer (e.g., thirty thirty).

As an alternative to using Hostas as a deer salad, you might try Cora Bells (i.e., Heuchera). Deer don't like eating Heuchera and its performance, use and appearance can be very similar to Hosta.


Sluggo.

Deer would eat them to the ground.....sounds like slugs:
- fill a pan with "cheap" beer....they will crawl in n drown....if ya gotta go. .go happy!
- why pay for all the "kill it all" insecticides....keep it slug un-friendly only and dust the area with DE (diatomaceous earth).....go all hari-kari on them. Just reapply after a rain.

Never heard of hostas. Had to Google them. Shade tolerant? Huge bonus for me. Deer eat them? Wonder what hosta fed venison tastes like?

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Originally posted by PASig:
I picked up a box of this at Lowe's, hopefully it works. Has pretty good reviews:

Should be fine as the active ingredient is Chelated Iron Phosphate (called EDTA). The chelated version of iron makes it more water soluble which helps the iron to be taken up into the body of the snail or slug slightly better. However, its downside is that it is more water soluble so it'll go into the soil further and might be toxic to beneficial earth worms.