The Dynamic Landscape
Palatability to slugs and snails
Relatively little is known about the palatability of seedlings of different species to slugs and snails. As a general rule, as seedlings age they become increasingly less palatable, due to increases in the concentrations of various chemical substances and, in some cases, morphological features, such as surface hairs (Table 6.13). Trollius europaeus, for example, is rarely grazed by slugs as an adult, but is highly palatable as young seedlings (Hitchmough 2003). The same also appears to be true for many Primula species. Some forbs are attractive to molluscs even as adults and are correspondingly ephemeral in landscape projects. In sites with high densities of slugs and snails, control of these
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Table 6.14. Examples of particularly robust but non-invasive forb species
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Dry meadow
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Damp-wet
meadow
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Prairie
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Annuals
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Buphthalmum
salicifolium
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Centaurea nigra
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Aster laevis
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Agrostemma githago
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Dianthus
carthusianorum
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Euphorbia palustris
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Eupatorium maculatum
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Centaurea cyaneus
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Galium verum
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Geranium sylvaticum
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Helianthus mollis
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Chrysanthemum
segetum
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Malva moschata
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Geranium x magnificum
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Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii
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Papaver rhoeas
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Origanum vulgare
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Persicaria bistorta
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Rudbeckia subtomentosa
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Papaver somniferum
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Papaver orientale
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Sanguisorba obtusa
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Silphium integrifolium
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Phacelia tanacetifolia
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Primula veris
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Sanguisorba
officinalis
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Veronicastrum virginicum
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Rudbeckia hirta
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herbivores during the emergence period will normally greatly increase the diversity and density of sown and weed species (Figure 6.10).
Depending on the area to be sown, broadcast sowing can be undertaken by hand by a chest-mounted spinning disk, a wheel-mounted spinning disk spreader or tractor-mounted equivalent. For really large-scale …
As can be gathered from the section ‘Types of herbaceous plant communities: habitat stereotypes’, there is potentially an attractive naturalistic herbaceous vegetation for every site, no matter how wet or …
This characteristic derives from the combination of high tolerance of competition, longevity and low palatability to slugs as established plants. When dealing with very weedy sites or sites where management …
