Slug Control Trial at The Oregon Garden
The Oregon Garden is a breathtaking 130-acre garden and resort located in Silverton, Oregon. They feature more than 20 beautiful, themed gardens planned for all-season beauty throughout the year. The grounds also feature Oregon’s only Frank Lloyd Wright house, The Gordon House, as well as a resort hotel, The Oregon Garden Resort. This property stands out as Oregon’s premier botanical garden and is well worth the visit.
The Oregon Garden is also deeply committed to highlighting the special ecology of the Pacific Northwest and they serve as a hub for garden and forest education. Sustainability is one of the core concepts for the garden which you can see in their gardening methods, their education, and their community outreach. They truly are a special addition to public gardens.
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Our mission is to welcome and inspire all visitors with an appreciation for the extraordinary ecology of the Pacific Northwest, and to provide a meaningful educational experience for gardeners of all skill levels and ages.
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But with all the amazing things you can say about The Oregon Garden, it should be pointed out that they still battle the same concerns that home gardeners face. Slugs are an especially big problem that The Oregon Garden Horticulturists and volunteer gardeners have to contend with. The slug damage is severe in parts of the garden. Below is a flower garden next to a hedge row. The hedge row keeps the slugs safe from heat, sun, and predators and the slugs have decimated the nearby plants despite multiple applications of a more conventional slug control.
Severe slug damage at The Oregon Garden
What the garden is supposed to look like.
We connected with Roseanne Yoder, a horticulturist at The Oregon Garden. Roseanne mentioned two pests they have been struggling to control: squirrels and slugs. Roseanne was interested in using natural controls for both of these pests. Squirrel damage, she explained, was somewhat controlled with planting different species of plants. The slugs, however, were not being diminished by conventional slug control. The kale, kohlrabi, and cauliflower were hit especially hard in the vegetable test garden. Roseanne decided to trial Wild Wisdom Wool Pellets as a local, sustainable, and natural way to control slugs.
We visited with Roseanne on July 6th, just one week after application of wool pellets. We were with her in her first chance to check out the plants after the heavy application of wool pellets. She excitedly pointed out the new growth. Every plant species in the garden was showing the beginning signs of recovery and new growth after just one week. Check out the gallery below to see photographs of Wild Wisdom Wool Pellets in action at The Oregon Garden. You can see the outer leaves with heavy slug control with the new growth of damage free inner leaves. In July Roseanne wasn’t ready to give a testimonial due to the fact that she needed the trial to have more time, however, she was extremely hopeful with what she saw after one week.
