What's eating my chives

[sammyc]

I've had a large pot of chives standing on a paved surface for some time, where they've been fine. Recently I moved it onto a gravel surface, where it should be even better off against pests, but then started to notice a few were being chewed - no sign of pests except a snail trail or two up side of pot. Never happened on the paving.

I put a tall plastic collar up around the pot & no further sign of snails, yet the chives are now going at a rate of knots - what looks like bitten off cleanly near the base. What's getting at 'em? Supposed to be pest free-ish I thought, & it doesn't seem like any of the possibles, thrips etc.

Some I've got growing in the garden & a couple of smaller pots from previous years are untouched, so I wouldn't have thought cats?

[Behemoth]

The chive monster

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Moose.

[sammyc]

The chive monster

And you in consumer advice

[peterb]

Slugs - and more slugs. Go out at night with a torch and you will see them - and be able to ... deal with them!

Have a look at the bottom of the pot - you may see one or two there, but they live under the surface of the soil during the day.

[pctech2012]

me!

[Zak33]

could be slugs.. worth seeing.

get small plastic pot.... put pot into sil.. sunk down .... fill pot with cheap lager or beer..... put stone over pot with enough room for slug to get under it... ie make the pot of lager shadey...

if pot fills with slugs... (they drown while getting lashed up) you know what it is.

IF you have slugs.... then getting rid is tricky unless you wanna use slug pellets round base of pot.

you CAN use pot ash.. ie ash from a fire all round base of plant.. but in mid summer .. who has a fire going?

[pctech2012]

Yep used to have to use slug pellets when had bedding plants in pots on the patio, slugs really are a pain in the you know where though.

[Rob_B]

Also if you can put copper around the rim of a pot/raised bed, apparently they can't crawl across it, cut up pipe or tape but it needs to be a couple of inches across

[peterb]

I find the sole of my size 9 boot does a good job of getting rid of them. Problem with slug pellets is if the slugs that have eaten the pellets are eaten by birds, hedgehogs or frogs, itdoesn't do them any good and they are the natural predators.

[Firejack]

me!

Well a balanced diet is important. Still, I'm not sure how fair it is on sammyc, eating their food to get one of your chive-a-day

[pctech2012]

Oh dear oh dear.

[sammyc]

Thanks for all suggestions. I doubted slugs in a way, because no trails - not up the pot, not on the polythene I put round it.

But..

after covering them completely overnight, & ruling out cats, there was more damage, the last remaining shoots, all but.



So, I now suspect - not slugs, not pctech2012 (who has a confession complex apparently ), not kittehs, but...


MINI SNAILS.
I took off the polythene completely, which I've been checking over in situ, and which was clipped very closely to the pot, & found these lurking at the edge out of sight.



Would snail offspring do that much damage? And why not start eating them when they were even younger & tastier & standing out in the open? Knowing me I've put the pot bang in the middle of their home turf.

Anyway, sod chives, snails can have 'em. I'll stick something else in the pot when they've finished nomming.

[Rob_B]

Seems pretty conclusive to me.....

[GoNz0]

seems pretty conclusive to me.....

lmfao!

[Zak33]

mini snails... they're baby snails and they are RAVENOUS hungry, they grow fast on chive food too.

take chives out and re-pot into smaller pot with fresh soil and bring into kitchen for a week, give them chance to re-muster their forces..... put down slug/snail pellets outdoors.. and then put chives back out in a week into snail free zone