Very interesting if I say so myself! You think it has anything to do with it being 4ft off the ground? The height might deter the slugs, they might have enough to eat at low levels, taking the route of less resistance... Or it could very well be the galvanized container... You should get a 10 inch tall galvanized pail from a farm store and a 4ft container of something not galvanized, and test your theory next year. I would be interested in seeing a pic of this SnS in a 4ft galvanized container!
I would also be interested in hearing the results of this experiment =O
Thanks for sharing,
John

Hello John,

I think I'm going to do a test with H. 'Invincible' next year (a real slug and snail magnet). Both in containers the same size, one plastic, one zinc. Put them in the middle of slug country. See how they do.
This year there are to many factors that make it impossible to judge wether the zinc has anything to do with it. The galvanized container is on the driveway, not under any trees; the other one is in the garden, partially dug in, under a tree.

But...then again, maybe...

Yeah, um, Invincible.... the most inappropriately named hosta.

Yeah, 'Invincible' was a joke in our garden until this year when I gave up on chemical-free and used metaldahyde and iron-phosphate based slug poison. They're still show quality at the time of this writing, woo-hoo!

hh

I don't know about the galvanized containers. However, I've found that if I elevate my pots on "pot feet", I have little problems with slugs. I also use plastic pots. I've found that if I forget to put them back on their feet in the spring, I always get slug damage. It stops when I elevate them.

But then, my Invincible is just a baby and I may learn something there.

bkay

I have a galvanized frame greenhouse that slugs do not seem to enter - So I'm wondering if this metal acts like high priced copper - which would make protecting raised beds less costly - & also, I have just noted that some folks use aluminum in place of copper ? If anyone has any reports on this subject I would appreciate knowing - my plastic raised beds are being attacked steadily & I'm going to lose my pole beans if I can't stop those slugs effectively - Thanx anyone!

I'm lucky to say I don't have a slug or snail problem in my yard. Earwigs and cutworms on the other hand...

We used to have tons of the Leopard slugs around here and some of the garden slugs, but this year, even after all of the rain we had, I haven't seen hardly any in the spring and none so far this summer. I think when we had our old garage torn down and built a new one, and put in a patio, that we took away their main hiding place. Even in the previous years when we had an abundance of slugs, they didn't seem to do that much damage. The Leopards are not plant eaters, they are scavengers (thank goodness, some got to be six inches long), but those little brown garden slugs liked to chew on some of my hostas. We also have quite a few toads in our yard and this spring had a bumper crop of babies. They probably have helped in the slug control for this year too. Now if they'd work on the mosquitoes.

Karen

We have lots of both slugs and snails. I keep them away from my hostas and other garden plants with Sluggo. The snails go away to die so I don't have to pick up all those shells. I tried copper in the past, but when it corrodes, the buggers crawl right over it.

-Babka

{{gwi:1094609}}

Oh Yuck! And to think that people actually eat those things!