Sweetgum balls as pest detterent?

Glendale-gardener 4/3/2011, 10:53 pm

So I was raking/blowing/sweeping/scooping/bagging/cussing at the hoards of dried sweetgum balls in my yard today. I got to talking with a neighbor who said that his wife always surrounds the bases of their hostas with the balls because it deters whatever the bug is that always destroys them(I think he said but now I forget, is it aphids?) So I do always have holey hosta leaves in the front of my house so I was going to save some to use for that. But that got me wondering if that would work for any of my veg plants. Surely whatever eats the hostas would like something in my sfg as well..

Anyone tried this?

BackyardBirdGardner 4/3/2011, 11:17 pm

Your neighbor may have found the only good thing about gumballs! I don't know how effective it would be. But, I'm pretty sure the pest is a slug. My hostas are littered with them early in the season. And, anything that crawls like a snail would likely have trouble with gumballs.

I always fought slugs with a shallow dish of beer. They crawl right in like lushes and don't come out. It's the yeast that attracts them from what I understand.

Granted, drunken squirrels are the byproduct. And, they have a temper when tying one on. Very Happy

Glendale-gardener 4/3/2011, 11:22 pm

hehe, yeah, I've done the beer dish in my strawberry beds before, gross but effective. I'll try the sweetgums on the hostas that got eaten last year. I'll let you know how it works.

**walshevak** 4/4/2011, 6:38 am

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:I always fought slugs with a shallow dish of beer. They crawl right in like lushes and don't come out. It's the yeast that attracts them from what I understand.

Granted, drunken squirrels are the byproduct. And, they have a temper when tying one on.

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