Slugs 2 - Runner Bean Plant 0

Remember my lovely new runner bean plant with its two perfect leaves? Turns out having that sort of thing in your garden is pretty much like advertising a slug bistro. First they ate all of one leaf, but ignored the other and I thought I was safe, the remaining leaf was too high up. But slugs can climb, and despite my late intervention with a beer slug trap yesterday (two big, fat slugs caught), my lovely (and only) runner bean plant is now back down to zero leaves.

Before

After

After the death of the only other runner bean seedling that came up (possibly at the paws of a local cat, possibly my own big feet - either way, something trod on it and crushed it to death), I'm now on my last ditch attempt to save my only chance at home-grown runner beans this year. Slugs and snails can and will strip a plant of all its foliage if they like the taste of it. I know this from what happened to the marigolds in my front garden. I now have a row of lifeless, wizened stems punctuating my clearly less tasty geraniums. So, after the failure of my beer trap to save the last few millimetres of my runner bean leaves last night, even though it caught two huge slugs, I've now resorted to a slug ring (the copper ring in the after picture) to keep the slugs at bay. My marigold and brassica experience tells me I have maybe one final shot at this before the plant gives up the ghost. It could still regrow some leaf at this point, but if the slugs take that off the moment the tiniest sliver of leaf reappears, that's it, no more chances.

I've had variable levels of success with slug rings so far. Some of them have protected my plants beautifully, but some plants have had large chunks eaten out of their leaves (I suspect in at least some places by things other than slugs). I think how well they protect my plants depends how well I've managed to connect the slug rings with the ground. Some slugs are tiny (I've found some in the beer traps that are only about a centimetre long and a few millimetres thick), so if you leave any bits where the slug ring isn't firmly connected with the ground, tiny slugs slide underneath.

Looking at the slug ring in my after picture, I think I may have left just such a gap at the front of it, so I'm going to sign off now and head out to put that right before night falls and my slug foes come out to play.