Re: poss. stem borers and slugs was: Losing Salvia officinalis

Marge, perhaps this will be the final post in the saga of Losing Salvias. I 
took your advice and went to work. Starting with Honorine's empty spot, I 
endeavored to get a look at the roots. Not a root to be found -- although by 
following the baby nearby I came to roots that lead back to the empty spot. 
This drove me a little crazy, but I checked out almost all the soil from the 
site and saw nothing unusual. Humm, ( I must have dug them out already?)        
                                        Onto the Lobelias. There were two 
stalks on two separate plants that were almost gone several days ago. Today, 
these stalks had revived, no more symptoms. They were slightly floppy, but 
OK. This mystified me. I pulled one of the floppy stalks out and it did 
indeed look like the work of a borer with holes and hollowed out at the base. 
Some of the roots were still intact so back into the garden it went. Whatever 
had been there was now gone.                                                    
    As for the Salvia. Two more Tri Color had died. One on either side of my 
largest (2 1/2' x4') Officinalis which is thriving as the sole survivor, or 
so I thought. To confuse me no end, as I was cleaning all this mess up, I 
reached for the last dead S. officinalis, the purple salvia, which wasn't far 
from the others, to pull it out of the ground. It resisted and Io and behold 
- I saw quite a bit of new growth coming out beneath all the bare dead 
branches. I will never understand the Summer of the Salvia Mystery.             
                                                        Thanks for all that 
slug info. I was preparing an order for two bags of Diatomaceous earth and 
you saved me the expense. When you mentioned it being ineffective if wet, I 
looked it up on the Dirt Cheap Organics site and it not only has to be 
reapplied if wet, but it kills beneficials AND earthworms* Plus it must be 
piled on at least one quarter inch thick around each plant.                     
                I know the beer treatment works. It's a pain to put little 
dishes out all over the place, but it works. (I once found a Guinness Book 
slug which I won't go into-yuck.)   Lots of the gardeners here use those Slug 
Motels; they're easy enough to make (the large soda bottles cut in half with 
the top turned inside) but I've not had the visitors with those as with 
simple saucers -- and even for an inch or two, the bottles require too much 
beer!                                                           Our weather 
is cooling off and it feels like heaven. Perhaps that's why the plagued 
plants perked up. It worked for me, too.                                        
Thanks for the extremely tireless help with all of this-oh, and for those 
great websites. Terrific Stuff. And that Hellebore one you posted last week 
is very promising.                                                              
            Hope you've had some rain,                                          
            Holly Zone 8

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