Experimenting (and starting small)

[Andy_CT]

Looks real good Ray, your having a much much better year with the opuntias than me. Several plants including my biggest Humifusa were decimated this year by slugs.

[RayC]

I should have known better then to say anything about slugs not doing a lot of damage, checked this morning and found a hole straight through on new pad. I found the culprit or its sibling, this one won't do any more damage.

[Andy_CT]

I should have known better then to say anything about slugs not doing a lot of damage, checked this morning and found a hole straight through on new pad. I found the culprit or its sibling, this one won't do any more damage.

They've nibbled and disfigured pretty much everything on my best humifusa I can't stop them, there are hundreds if not thousands of the slimeballs around. I'm picking 30-50 on wet mornings around the gardens and those are just the ones I can find. They appear to largely ignore the ortho slug bait I put out. The weather the last few days is not helping I'm seriously just about ready to quit with opuntias in the ground, I'm already in the process of moving smaller ones into pots on the deck.

[John C]

Looking good!

[ihc6480]

I should have known better then to say anything about slugs not doing a lot of damage, checked this morning and found a hole straight through on new pad. I found the culprit or its sibling, this one won't do any more damage.

They've nibbled and disfigured pretty much everything on my best humifusa I can't stop them, there are hundreds if not thousands of the slimeballs around. I'm picking 30-50 on wet mornings around the gardens and those are just the ones I can find. They appear to largely ignore the ortho slug bait I put out. The weather the last few days is not helping I'm seriously just about ready to quit with opuntias in the ground, I'm already in the process of moving smaller ones into pots on the deck.

Hey Andy,
Sad to hear about you thinking of giving up on in ground plants but I can see where you would be becoming aggrevated with the slugs destroying what you hope to enjoy someday.
Hopefully things will turn around for ya.

[RayC]

They do like the warmth and moisture, these 2 didn't have a good early evening

[poobar]

Hey Ray, your garden is looking fantastic with some good new growth! Now I know to watch out for slugs....

[RayC]

Dusting this topic off with a late winter 2010 (Mar 6th update). Appears almost everything isn't looking bad at all after going through the winter (of course there is still time for failure).











The last pic is O. ellisiana
did not at all like being buried in snow and will likely be gone. Just have to find something else to try

[Andy_CT]

Looks good, its always interesting to see phaeacanthas stay fairly plump throughout the winter.

I tried O. Ellisiana in the garage this year and its not a pretty sight It did fine in the basement the previous two winters.

[RayC]

Looks good, its always interesting to see phaeacanthas stay fairly plump throughout the winter.

yep, from the looks of them you wouldn't think they even went through winter.

With a little warmth in the air and clear blue skies we have been seeing a few of the Humifusa pads are starting to curl up towards the sky already (a month earlier then last year)