Rhurbarb vs slug...

[kentishgal]

My poor rhubarb is being decimated by slugs and snails. I just planted it a month ago and its one leaf now resembles a doily, plus any new shoot is nibbled off straight away.
It probably isnt helping that so far the rhubarb is actually the only plant in the garden at present!! Ive tried coffee grounds, egg shells, nightly ninja slug raids and organic slug pellets.
Im hoping that once I get more stuff planted they might leave it alone a little, but will it recover from the slug damage??

[SarrissUK]

Sounds like you need slug nematodes Kenthisgal. Depending on how big your garden is, one packet might cover it. Well worth it

[Aberdeenplotter]

I fully endorse the comment about nematodes. However, there are other things you can do to thin out the slug population. I know slug pellets are brutal (but no less so than nematodes which are little worms which eat the slug from the inside out) but if carefully used they are really effective. Scatter some around your rhubarb plant.

you can also make beer traps and drown the little sods or you can simply go outside in the dark every evening with a torch and a bucket and collect the slugs. It's amazing just how many you may find. Don't be tempted to chuck them over the fence. Damned things are like homing pigeons.

[singleseeder]

Don't be tempted to chuck them over the fence. Damned things are like homing pigeons.

A year or so back someone on Radio 4 did an experiment with snails to see if they returned to the place they were found - they did!

[zazen999]

Rhubarb is pretty hardy stuff; so I'd cut the remaining leaf off as you won't get a harvest from it this year anyway. Cover it in compost and get on with other stuff in your garden.

[donnakebab]

I have had good results with beer traps. Morrisons used to sell four cans for 99p. Don't know if they still have it.

Chuck em on the compost when they are drowned.