Is This Slug Damage?
Hi, I am a recent subscriber to your newsletter and am enjoying it. I have tried to find information on this on the internet but not having much luck. Last fall I transplanted some Lily of the valleys from another garden to mine. The came back nice this spring but seem to be getting eaten by something. I assumed slugs so I bought a "slug magic" pellets and put that around the base of them but it does not seem to be helping. Could it be something else? The leaves are being bitten through the middle and breaking off...
Doug says
Now this is an interesting problem. The thing is of course that Lily of the Valley flowers are poisonous so we rarely see any damage on this plant.
Without being there, I'd suspect mice or chipmunks.
Slugs Normally Target
Slugs usually go after tender growing leaves and other tender parts of plants. They rarely go after stems first. So I'd suspect a rodent of some kind.
Having said that...
Not Necessarily Slug Damage
There is also a "stem rot" of lily of the valley that will appear first as a rotting bit of stem - the disease then goes upwards and downwards and you're left with a rotting mass of plant gunk.
Underground parts of the plant are not attacked so the plant will come back the next year but it will obviously be weakened.
This is mostly a disease of greenhouse plants and control is sanitation (big time) by cleaning out the dying plants and cutting everything back to the ground in the fall (remove the leaves)
And...
Clay soils and excessive moisture will also lead to stems falling over and some rotting. This is mostly a problem with the flowers first and not the stems but it can start with the stems in some cases.
And...
You may need to know more about slug control.
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