Greetings from Ireland, Great video and I love the music, We used to grow sunflowers years ago down the back garden against the fence We would put out slug traps with cheap beer the same as you guys and the sunflowers would get really tall. We don't have children but when our brothers and sisters used to visit with their kids the kids really were amazed with the big sunflowers. Slugs and snails are the bane of my life at the moment I've never seen so many in the garden. I use slug traps and catch lots of them. I haven't used beer for the last couple of years. Beer in Ireland has got expensive because the powers that be have added a number of tax's over the last few years and I have seventeen slug traps around the flower beds. I went out on Wednesday and lifted all my pots and there they were the fuppers I wont go into gory details of what happened to them. Slugs are attracted to the yeast in beer so I make a homemade slug bait which is one cup of water, one teaspoon of flour, one teaspoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of yeast and for good measure two spoons of salt. I call it the carrot and stick approach, the yeast to draw them in and the salt to zap the fuppers.
Hi Nicholas, and thanks for sharing your slug management experience with us. I love your beer free slug pub recipe. Hopefully, warmer drier weather will return and reduce the damage they cause. Simon
I've been growing sunflowers here for 4 years now and I don't support them ever ... they're very tall and I save the seeds from year to year. My biggest problem is taking off all the stem sprouts so they only grow one flower. If they grow more then one flower they're usually deformed and not full flowers. I've cut off the flower and let the stock stand in which some will grow another flower. I leave the roots in the ground to not disturb the ecology of the soil. Thank you for the interesting video!
Hi Ben. Yes, they are an absolute menace! Sowing directly does save time, effort and produces a slightly better plant. But at least pot grown plants have a far greater chance of survival and reduces the incidence heart ache! Simon
