Not only did they chew through the entire stems worth of layered foliage above - but they chewed through it at the bottom as well - right where it comes out of the ground!!!

Ack!!! I've seen slug damage before, but never anything like that! They must have been having a family reunion on that plant!

That is bad, I know they love hosta but haven't seen any on my dls, thankfully! What do you use for them?

What do I use for slugs? What don't I use??? haha we have some hostas that have been absolutely shredded like this as well. does not make me happy!

Jason, I just noticed where you live. I used to live in WA too. Slugs there are MONSTERS!!!

Bad here too, near Snohomish/Monroe.

I assume you caught the culprit red-handed so there's no question of the identity of the guilty party, Jason? Cutworms can do that too, and lopping plants off at the base is their typical modus operandi - damage higher up can be a climbing cutworm.

nope, you're right... im only assuming it was slugs. that seems to be everyones go to bad guy! ha

Whatever it was, ive never seen anything as bad as this. at least not on one specific stem on one specific plant!

Does the beer in a low dish work? I am a non drinker but would buy some if it helps. I have some wood ashes too. What about that?

I have seen people use beer in a dish and it does work.

If that daylily plant is anywhere near the size it looks in the photo, I would think mouse traps would be more in order than beer traps! Not saying it is mouse damage... but that the slugs are as big as mice.

Slugs here have been more a problem with hosta than with daylilies. Over the years, I've tried all of the recommended remedies - crushed eggshells, beer in a dish, several commercial products, etc. and they all work to some extent but none had been totally effective. A hosta expert recommended a commercial product to me a couple of years ago and it has been the most effective by far - 'Slug Magic.' I was concerned that it not be attractive to animals as I have outdoor cats. This is sprinkled around but it isn't something that appeals to animals. For hostas, I use 3 applications in the spring, as the hosta person recommended, one when the pips are just pushing through, one when they're about 3' tall and the last when they're about 6". Here on the east coast, I can find Slug Magic at Southern States. You might see how this works with daylilies by sprinkling some around the base of the affected plants.

I have no way to determine the truth in this article, so I present it only as food for thought so to speak. Everything in this article could be true, or false. I did find it interesting and plausible. I would just suggest being careful with any poison around children and pets. I would certainly try to keep them out of an area that had any type of poison recently applied. First, info from slug magic, then the article .

Slug Magic Pellets:
Iron Phosphate 1.0% pelletized Patented, all weather formula makes slugs disappear! Biodegradable and safe for use around pets and wildlife, worms & beneficial. Slug Magic can be used in fruit and vegetable gardens up to the day of harvest.

Now a response to those claims:
http://www.hostalibrary.org/fi...

riverman123 said:nope, you're right... im only assuming it was slugs. that seems to be everyones go to bad guy! ha

Whatever it was, ive never seen anything as bad as this. at least not on one specific stem on one specific plant!

That is so very typical of cutworm damage that I would scratch away an inch or two of the soil around the base of the fan and see if you can find one and remove it before it strikes again. Here's a pic:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/g...

Edited to add another pic showing the size of plant they can fell:
http://extension.entm.purdue.e...

sooby said:

That is so very typical of cutworm damage that I would scratch away an inch or two of the soil around the base of the fan and see if you can find one and remove it before it strikes again. Here's a pic:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/g...

Edited to add another pic showing the size of plant they can fell:
http://extension.entm.purdue.e...

Came to post exactly this. I had a problem with cutworms for a while and they can be a huge pain. I've never had a slug take a plant at the base like that. There isn't a good organic control method that I know of besides trying to get nematodes or BTK into the soil but that can take time. You can also think about attracting birds and putting a toad house or 2 in the garden. Or of course just use a systemic insecticide anywhere you see damage.

JWWC said:
There isn't a good organic control method that I know of besides trying to get nematodes or BTK into the soil but that can take time.

Depends how many there are, often there are only a few and you can go on a rather satisfying search and destroy mission when they're curled up just under the soil surface snoozing during the day. The toilet/kitchen paper tubes/plastic cups with the bottoms cut out work as collars for single stem plants and maybe single fan daylilies but otherwise difficult to use in a daylily clump. Diatomaceous earth around the base of the plant/s under attack should work.

Black ground beetles are a good natural control for cutworms. I think there are several species of the beetles all commonly called 'black ground beetles'. If you handle them they kind of put off a strong odor that reminds me of ammonia, so I've called them ammonia beetles since I was a kid. In my experience, they do a good job of getting rid of cutworms. I was having a problem with cutworms and my place of employment had a nuisance problem with the beetles, so I started bringing them home and releasing them. You could see them dragging a cutworm around in the middle of the day.

I had snails and slugs so bad one year that they literally paved the sidewalk.

Since I have dogs, I used an organic product called "Sluggo" or something like that,
and I've not had a problem since.

Sluggo is iron phosphate but does it contain EDTA? That extra ingredient appears to be the problem with dog poisonings from iron phosphate slug products. As well as the link Larry gave above, Dr. Jeff Gillman wrote a blog about the toxicity of iron phosphate products to dogs and earthworms here:

http://blogs.extension.org/gar...

Edit: checked the links in Dr.Gillman's blog and yes it does contain EDTA according to the research paper he linked to:
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.e...

while I'm at it might as well add the dog research link too:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com...

I've never used Sluggo, but I've heard that it is totally safe to use around pets. I have never checked on that information myself though, so I'm not sure.

My slug cure was to put birdhouses up in my daylily garden. Haven't seen a slug since doing that!