Pea Tree - Should I move it?

[debbiem]

One of our favourite shrubs is our Caragana or Pea Tree. I couldn't believe it when I saw one in our local GC and home it came with us. This tree is as tough as old boots, survives the Siberian waste in temperatures as low as -40C and isn't fussy regarding soil. So it was more than qualified for our windy places in our garden. The RHS Encyclopaedia says it's trouble free regarding pests and diseases. Oho not so! Yesterday I counted 24 snails and 1 slug on it (he must be a represenative for all the other millions), and it's still only about four feet high and getting decimated by them.
The question is - there's no doubt that the snails will eat all the greenery away, and they are even starting on the shaving the greenery off the branches. So, should I dig it up and put it in a pot until next year, as we will have our chickens by then who will make short work of this lot, or should I leave it where it is, assuming it's tough enough to take all this onslaught.
I've already got a Black Elder recovering in a pot which had been reduced to nothing by them, but I don't know whether it's necessary to do the same for the Pea Tree.
The garden IS actually doing great regarding pest attack, as the snails and slugs won't touch a lot of the plants in there which we have selected through seeing what they obliterate and what they leave alone.
But I'm astonished at the bee-line they're making for the poor old supposedly tough-nothing'll-touch-it Pea Tree.

[trunkyjo]

Hello Mrs Beige, can you put eggshells around the base of the plant - they don't like crawling over them so may stop them from climbing up - works in my garden on the hostas a treat

[Sleepy]

trunkyjo said:

Hello Mrs Beige, can you put eggshells around the base of the plant - they don't like crawling over them so may stop them from climbing up - works in my garden on the hostas a treat

I agree with Trunky. And Sweetie swears by charcoal. She has it round her hostas and they've not been touched. I would do a ring of both - two barriers.

I reckon you can use BBQ charcoal.

[debbiem]

Thanks trunkyjo, I'll have a go at that. That might stop some of them. The thing is, it's planted against a wall with a load of nooks and crannies in it. Maybe they do all come up from the ground but I suspect some of them creep out of the wall for a sideways assault.
But if it works on the Hostas it sounds promising! I suppose the more eggshells the better the barrier ?

[debbiem]

Thanks too Sleepy. We've got some BBQ charcoal around somewhere. It'll be interesting to see how effective these barriers are....
We've already moved the tree once as it was planted right at the back of the border and we were having to use bamboo canes to poke the snails off it, as we couldn't reach it.
So it would be better all round for it to stay put now, tough as it may be.

[trunkyjo]

I just dribble them round so not quite a solid circle, i guess with the wall situation perhaps you could rub some charcoal up and down the wall by the tree, would prob wash away in the rain but worth a try i would of thought.

[debbiem]

Thanks, I'm definitely going to try the eggshells. It's got to stop some of them, surely! Gosh there are so many juicy molluscs in my garden, so why doesn't anyone want them!

[drbill]

I have a pot full of hostas - usually prime fare for slugs and snails. I put a band of copper tape around the top of the pot and they haven't been touched. Perhaps you could put a band around the trunk of your pea trea. That should stop them climbing up the trunk

[debbiem]

Thanks drbill, that sounds very promising too. I've heard of using copper before - we did try copper wire a while ago in some of our pot plants but it wasn't effective - I think we gave the slugs and snails too much room to get around the problem! But a nice band of copper tape - wide enough to repel and which they have to cross to get any further - I like the sound of that. Can you get it in GC's?

[4pygmies]

Plocket is trying the garlic spray so p'raps you could try all these various deterrants and spray the wall with the garlic stuff...surely one of them will slow them up so your poor plant can recover...I should feed the plant a bit too to help it. Hope something helps!

[debbiem]

Thanks 4P - I feel like going out there at night with a blunderbuss at the moment...........

[debbiem]

Thanks for all the suggestions - I went to B&Q today and came out with a bottle of Westland Slug and Snail Blocker. It's environmentally friendly, not poisonous and is a kind of gel, which has been administered already! Has anyone else used this kind of stuff? I wonder how effective it is.......if it works, which I'm pretty sceptical about, it'll be a miracle! So easy, just squeeze a circle of it around the base of the plant.

[debbiem]

Well, there were only three small snails on it so it looks as if it's working. I've put a copper bangle around it now,and eggshells too - yet to check if they've worked but hey ten out of ten for effort!

[debbiem]

Nothing on it today - but then again hardly any foliage either. But I do think I won this one and not them!

[debbiem]

I've just dug it up, put it in a pot with some new compost and manure and given it some Miraclegro. The deterrents seemed to work for a while and it started sprouting new shoots but this morning there were eight snails on it again. It's having some well deserved time out now.