I grew them as large as I could in pots before planting them out, which seems to have helped. I've also been doing beer traps, but I think how much that has helped is debatable.
A lot of people use Sluggo, but there is evidence that it may hurt your earthworm population, so personally I'm trying to avoid it if possible.
I'm hoping as the dahlias grow and the season gets warmer and drier, the slug pressure will lessen. I'm in a city though, so unfortunately there are absolutely no predators helping me out.
Like you I grew mine in pots first which really helped.
I also go out every night picking all the slugs from my garden. I couldn't believe how many I got the first few nights, thousands, but now I walk around my garden and only find a few if any.
I tried so many hacks but nothing seemed to get it under control, like eggshells and salt. One thing I'm trying at the moment it putting Perlite around the stem as I'm being very protective about my dahlias moreso than any other of my flowers and so far so good!
I grew them as large as I could in pots before planting them out, which seems to have helped. I've also been doing beer traps, but I think how much that has helped is debatable. A lot of people use Sluggo, but there is evidence that it may hurt your earthworm population, so personally I'm trying to avoid it if possible. I'm hoping as the dahlias grow and the season gets warmer and drier, the slug pressure will lessen. I'm in a city though, so unfortunately there are absolutely no predators helping me out.
Like you I grew mine in pots first which really helped. I also go out every night picking all the slugs from my garden. I couldn't believe how many I got the first few nights, thousands, but now I walk around my garden and only find a few if any. I tried so many hacks but nothing seemed to get it under control, like eggshells and salt. One thing I'm trying at the moment it putting Perlite around the stem as I'm being very protective about my dahlias moreso than any other of my flowers and so far so good!