Hosta La Vista, Baby!

I have quite a bit of Hosta in my yard because there's a good deal of shade to contend with in the back.  I've struggled with "shade loving plants" and hostas seem to come in a nice variety of colors and are relatively easy to grow.  My only problem with hostas is that occasionally, certain ones, would get holes in them.  I sprayed them with an insecticide, but that didn't seem to work as well as it did on other plants, so I deduced it was a different kind of insect.  Larger, too.

Then I learned the culprits were slugs.  I've never seen a single slug on them (apparently they are nocturnal), but researching the issue online revealed the problem.  There were several solutions, such as putting out dishes of beer, only to find drunken dead slugs swimming around in the dishes and that wasn't something I was willing to do.  I think slugs are really disgusting creatures, and I don't just mean the ones like my ex-husband.  Further, I had groundhogs, squirrels, feral cats, raccoons and opposums that occupied my property, I didn't want any of them getting loaded and rowdy at all hours of the night on warm beer.  And, I wasn't sure if wild animals drinking warm beer with a fat dead slug in the bottom of the dish was anything like humans drinking the tequila worm, but I wasn't willing to find out either.  Plus, the beer drinkers in my family were not willing to share their beer with the wildlife.

There was a solution, however, that would not cost me a dime and was so simple, I jumped for joy.  Well, that's an exaggeration, but I did clap.  What is it, you ask?  Coffee grinds.  There was never a shortage of those in my house!  So, for a week, I made a full pot of coffee and took the used grinds and scattered them around the base of the holey plants.  In fact, my filters are cone-shaped, so I would tear them along the seam and lay them flat around the base of the plant, which was hidden by the leaves, and wholly biodegradeable.  Apparently, slugs hate coffee, which is fine with me because I love coffee and have plenty of it!  Not only that, but the grinds are good for the soil (I also throw grinds, and filters, into the compost bin) and provide additional nutrients to the plants. 

Within a week, the slimey bastards seemed to disappear and my hostas began to grow and thrive.  So, several times a week, I throw my grinds into a container that I keep outside and towards the end of the week, I take the grinds and sprinkle them around the base of the hostas to maintain control.  It seems to be working and I seem to have gotten rid of another slug problem in my life.

Hosta la vista, baby!