What's up with these two plants

Hi all.

On my beautiful silver-leafed Angel Wings, is this just slug damage?

And my (what I call Crazy Daisy), it just looks so floppy - despite watering, and brown bits developing - is there something else I should be doing to/for it?

I added several bags of compost and well rotted manure in early spring, but I feel the growth in general seems a bit lacking, for plants that went in a good 8 weeks ago - but maybe I'm expecting too much.

Ty!

 

First one I think is slug/snail damage. The second one is not enjoying the 'heatwave' we're having. You might find it perks up late evening time?
If it doesn't, then I dunno

 

Bloomin', flippin' slugs. Yes, daisy has perked up since the sun's moved around from earlier so that's good. Thank you.

 

I'm afraid silver-leafed Senecio Angel Wings is often disappointing, after an initial great show. I personally avoid it.

 

It's growing absolutely beautifully, it's just being eaten alive, ruining all the gorgeous leaves . I've got pellets in a ring of protection but - the slugs must be levitating the little buggers!

 

Too many of the pellets can just attract them even more. They look hideous here, although I've only seen one or two being grown, but they just get shredded within a few weeks.

What is the daisy? You've not said what species/variety it is. Many of them like sun, but if they're big, and don't have enough water, they can droop. Too rich a soil can also make them too big, too soon [the manure could have encouraged rapid growth] and for 8 weeks since being planted [late April?] that's a pretty big plant, unless it was nearly that size on planting.

 

Thank you. The daisy - sorry, can't remember the details - is in its 2nd year so already established. I've just put some copper mesh around my silver friend, see if that helps.

 

Just photographed this specimen in my local GC today, not very enticing!

 

Oh dear!

I'm delighted to say that copper mesh around the base has stopped the slugs and there's been zero damage since putting that down.

 

That's good that you have an improvement @BlackCountryGardener
I meant to say that it's probably one of the Shasta daisies - Leucanthemum, you have. I passed some in a couple of gardens a few days ago and it reminded me of this thread. If it's only that sort of age it won't yet be at full maturity. It'll probably be taller/bigger next year. It takes several years for any perennial to be fully mature.
They'll certainly droop a bit if you have long dry spells, as mentioned earlier. The ones near me are all about 3 feet or so, and nice and upright, but we don't have terribly hot weather for long periods, and we have a lot of cloudier, cooler weather generally.
As yours seems to be in a raised bed , that will also drain, and dry out, more quickly than being directly in the ground. While the manure is fine for improving conditions, it will have encouraged growth, which can then struggle a wee bit to be maintained when it's dry. Sometimes, it's just that timing and the conditions that can cause a bit of temporary imbalance

 

Your 2 pics show 2 very different plants.
The lovely silver Angel Wings prefers hot dry conditions in thin, gritty, poor soil.
The daisy needs deep, rich , fat soil and is much more at risk to slug damage.
Totally opposite requirements.
I would love to grow Angel Wings, I have lusted over it many times but know it will not survive more than a month or two in the damp climate of Cornwall.

 

I love Angels Wings, I overwintered a single plant in my unheated greenhouse and now have six babies all doing well and so far free of slugs and snails. They are in a sunny spot but just ordinary soil no grit and look lovely.

 

Ours was like that Papi Jo , ours in a 3 litre pot overwintered in our Greenhouse . It started to grow then I placed it outside our conservatory door along with a few planters with our Summer flowers taking over the Spring flowers to have a new outlook and they started to be chomped .OH took it out of the pot and lo and behold hiding under the crocks was a ‘Slug’ , gotcha. Now today it’s happy and new growth is showing.

 

Yes, that's what it is, knew it began with L . It perks up whenever the sun clears off and it's getting ready to flower.

What should I be adding do you think, rather than manure?

 

I don't think you need to add anything. If you don't have reasonable rainfall, you may have to water them over summer. If the soil is decent enough further down, they'll get their roots down well and will be stronger plants in future. Too much food encourages soft growth which the roots can't support so well, so it's not always a good thing.
They just grow of their own accord round here, but we have clay soil which has enough nutrition for all the daisy family. I doubt any of the ones I mentioned get any attention really, and I don't remember doing anything to them when I had them decades ago

I just noticed in your original pix the huge amount of slug pellets round that plant. That just attracts even more slugs and is therefore counter productive. I know it's tempting to use the 'more is better' approach, but it really isn't when it comes to slug pellets. A light sprinkle is always the best approach, but if you've found the copper better, you may not need them at all...