maybe i should eat my slugs instead of my veg :-|

[stubedo]

Hey,

Ok , its my first year growing veg, kale, swiss chard, turnips......but my only real problem is......evil.....small.....slimy........SLUGS........I really hate them now, I`m trying so hard to grow decent kale & turnips at the moment but the slugs are ruining them, I`ve tried pellets, copper tape (rubbish) ,wet & dry sandpaper 3 inch round pots, & also sheep slug gone wool......NONE are working.....I must have 5000 slugs in my garden...has anyone won the war on slugs this year? I don`t know what I can try next, I feel like giving up & growing something else non Brassica , but I started growing veg as I wanted fresh greens......bit depressed tonight,seeing the evil beggars on my veg when I went out with my torch.......

Stu

[veggiechicken]

Don't know how to say this Stu, but I've seen very few slugs this year (unlike last year). The problem this year has been caterpillars - they've turned most of my brassicas to lace
Is the soil very wet - or are there dead leaves or wood near the plants where the slugs are lurking?

[lottie dolly]

Thought the same thing VC,now last year was awful,i did find a few small ones inside a few cabbage,i think it was on account of NOT clearing the ground properly in that particular cage,thus giving hiding places and ladder for them the slither upwards,in another place i did use a few pellets,and it worked,
IF you do decide to eat them,don't forget the salt

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

If anyone else fancies eating some slugs, I have lots of them. Various sizes. Some great big ones like jabba the hut - big enough to share.

Come to mine, while you collect them (in the buckets I will provide), I will fire up the BBQ for you, make a salad (of bits they haven't decimated) and crack open some home made wine.

The only condition is that you cannot leave until they are ALL gone.

[Dorothy rouse]

If anyone else fancies eating some slugs, I have lots of them. Various sizes. Some great big ones like jabba the hut - big enough to share.

Come to mine, while you collect them (in the buckets I will provide), I will fire up the BBQ for you, make a salad (of bits they haven't decimated) and crack open some home made wine.

The only condition is that you cannot leave until they are ALL gone.

Nice in your slow cooker.

[veggiechicken]

...........or the pressure cooker would soften them very quickly and the slime would make viscous stock

[Dorothy rouse]

Slug chutney?

[veggiechicken]

I think they'd look good in one of those upside down tarte tatin thingies

[Bill HH]

I have just had my tea! pack it in.


I have had millions of the blighters, I always do. I too have tried every know weapon I can. It can be quite heart breaking. I thought i was beggining to win in the summer but it was just the dry weather, now they are back with a vengance.

[chris]

Seriously - nematodes. They're more expensive than the pellets, wool things and what not - but whilst not singing the praises of them being environmentally/ecologically friendly, they decimate the slug population when applied correctly.

I don't use anything else now, just two packs of them each year - one for the spring sowing the ground is warm enough, and then around a month - two months later.

Last year, I could only get one pack due to lack of stock - but my plot was the least affected on our allotment site. Every one just applies (in some cases) seas of pellets. *shrug*.

In a few weeks, they won't be much of a problem when the temperature drops / any frosts come. Unless we have an indian winter?

[PyreneesPlot]

Just be warned - they are very, very bitter. Yes, we did eat them. Several mouthfulls. In error ...

Just keep picking every evening, if you can. My count is now rarely more than 1-200 per night down from 600plus EVERY NIGHT three years ago.

[Bill HH]

Seriously - nematodes. They're more expensive than the pellets, wool things and what not - but whilst not singing the praises of them being environmentally/ecologically friendly, they decimate the slug population when applied correctly.

I don't use anything else now, just two packs of them each year - one for the spring sowing the ground is warm enough, and then around a month - two months later.

Last year, I could only get one pack due to lack of stock - but my plot was the least affected on our allotment site. Every one just applies (in some cases) seas of pellets. *shrug*.

In a few weeks, they won't be much of a problem when the temperature drops / any frosts come. Unless we have an indian winter?

Slugs cover a huge variety of creatures from tiny wickle slugs through snails up to Jabba the hut things (as someone above so apt;y put it. Do nematodes attack all of these? Further more dont your plot neighbours benefit from your nematodes given that a healthy snail in good trim can travel 20 or thirty miles on his morning jog?

[chris]

Check out nemaslug - it explains it all. They're the natural predator of slugs - microscopic worms. It stopped keel slug damage and big beefy sluggers too

Not sure if it helps my neighbours - I have a deep barrier both sides of my plot to stop bindweed and a vague attempt at stoping horsetail.

[Dorothy rouse]

Aaahh, yuk, I hate those huge fat slugs, so horrible ! Yuk!

[Fleurisa]

Nematodes work best on the slugs that go underground