I have been planting stuff for a couple of weeks now indoor as well outdoors. Some small plants need some indoor time to get strong before they have the strength to go outside.
But others just need a day or so to go there, and they are strong enough to go outside immediately. My sugar snaps are those last category. The first thing you have to do is have them sprout a couple of days in a moisty napkin and by the time they are making little roots you can stick them into the ground.
Nothing fancy, no protection whatsoever, they just go for it.
Immediately they start growing like a madman and they stick their heads above the ground. By the time that the sun is full on to them they start to look super nice. They look strong! And very short after this they are starting to use their little tentacles to grasp towards their support to go further up.
I like the sight of these small plants growing super fast and it always makes me feel like I am a super decent gardener who really knows what she doing. But peas and beans are just really strong and are also decent semi-winter survivors, and that makes it perfect to plant them early in the season.
Look at them go!
But then
But then after a couple of colder and more moisty days I saw that the leaves were starting to get eaten a bit by some critters. Looking by the slime that is also all over the ground, I do expect it to be snails as I am seeing a lot of them around here.
I don't mind snails at all as they are a decent part of the eco system as well, but now they have started eating my little plants, booh! The leaves are the snack for the snails and they are really chewing them down.
I don't have the idea that they are eating a lot more of then, but the reality is that my plants have stopped growing at the moment even though the temperature outside is decent for growing in combination with moisty soil.
The question now is a bit, did they also eat all of the new small branches that need to spout on this little plant and is it doomed, or is there still a chance that they will catch up with some decent weather. We shall see in the next week or so, but it will also be very moisty and cold again --> slugweather.
My question here is, what do you guys use for anti snail. In the previous years I had used pinetree leaves as they are pointy, but it is too early in the season for them to fall on the ground. I know old ground coffee is an option but will it also effect the quality of the soil?
I don't really want to head over to slug-traps honestly, but I also want my stuff to grow. Should I just wait for more decent weather?
What do you guys do?
@tipu curate
Thanks for the find!
Ahh sweet, thanks for the find!
I like using coffee grounds for slugs, their distant cousins. It is very effective when placed around the base of the stem. They cannot pass the barrier. Many people will tell you that adding this will lower the ph of your soil. I think this a little dramatic. The grounds are relatively weak. Unless you're actually pouring your mug of coffee into the soil you should be fine. The plants really only need a teaspoon or two each of used grounds to deter your mollusks.
Yea, I hear coffee a lot as well, but doesn't it effect the quality of soil there as well? im kind of afraid that it will also sink into the soil as it rains a crapload over here.
And do you like make a circle around the plant? Or just drape it anywhere random?
You can just surround the stem with it.