Giant sunflowers and blueberries

julie03

i would love to grow giant sunflowers with my children previous 2 years i have just planted the seeds but nothing came up, i now know they were eaten before getting anywhere, this year i decided to start in pots to try and avoid, i did them in individual plastic cups when they were established i cut the bottom out and planted them straight in as they were, needless to say i have none left now, how do i protect them from slugs and birds, my children would love to see them grow.

Also I have a blueberry bush, last year i didn't get any fruit this year seemed ok but took forever to ripen, then they just shrivelled up so are unedible

what am i doing wrong, i am a complete novice

thanks

forgotmyname

Blueberries like acidic soil, Use an acidic feed. The best way to keep the slugs at bay use slug pellets.

M0ney

I read that used coffee grounds can be used for both a Slug/snail repellent and for acidifying the soil, what I was told is that you need a lot if coffee grounds to acidify the soil but if it works I think it's a great idea with it being the safe natural solution.

julie03

we have a lot of birds in the garden as we live near woodland so reluctant on snail pellets, can always try cheap value stuff.

forgotmyname

Late night strolls with the torch and a bucket of salty water. Even a small amount of salt will kill sunflowers though. I found that out...

A tiny pinch of salt on a fat slug at the base and the next day the sunflower was dead and drooping.

Yet i have strawberry plants that have had more than a good pinch and suffered no ill effects from it. Well no visible effects.

theoretica

Blueberries like acid soil, like freedraining soil but a lot of water through it (mine weren't good last year as they dried out too much - just been watering them) and only a few varieties are self fertile, most need a different variety of blueberry nearby to set fruit.

As this year they set fruit and then shrivelled up did you water them? Mine aren't even thinking about ripening yet so you may just need patience there.

Do you have large or small slugs? If you cut the top and bottom off a 2 litre dtrinks bottle and cover the top of the tube with a couple of layers of narrow mesh - the sort of bags oranges come in - then big snails can't get in. Once the plant has outgrown this then you can discourage them a bit by cutting spikes round the top of the bottle.

julie03

most of the slugs are quite large, so i like the idea of the drinks bottles will try that next year , i didnt know about the acidic thing with blueberries so will do an acidic feed next year and also more watering as my strawberries always do well so i assumed (stupidly ) that as it was a berry would do the same

thank you for all the advice , hopefully next year will be better for both, Rasberries and strawberries seem excellent so far this year (fingers crossed) so not all hope lost

murphyslaw

Hi I cut a drinks bottle into 2" rings wrap the ring in slug copper tape £2 from home bargains. snip the ring and tape it back up if you need to then I push the ring into the ground top up with some slug pellets and water to the side of the plant slowly. So far seems to be working and we have loads of slugs and snails.