The ongoing fight against slugs !!

[Bren In Pots]

How do you brew your own nematodes ?? Is there a guide somewhere ?

I've not tried it but have a read at this thread :-

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ied_64107.html

[Newishgardener]

I'd like to go down the nematode route here but it is often very hot and dry (and often not) but also we have a healthy and growing glow worm population who need slugs. I'd hate to find I'd wiped out my slugs and my glow worms!!

There are threads on here about growing your own nematodes. I'll have a furtle.

Beer dregs - I make pizza and brioche on the days after beer bottling

Do you actually use the leys to make your breads ?? And do you use it in place of bread yeast ?


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum

[Newishgardener]

I've not tried it but have a read at this thread :-

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ied_64107.html

Thanks for the link bren I will check it out :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum

[Gertrude's Ghost]

I watered on some Nemaslug about 6 weeks ago and we've had quite a lot of rain since then but my delphiniums are still intact so I guess it's working.

[Knight of Albion]

Raised beds?

You could try waterproof sandpaper 80 grit

Beat Garden Slugs With Sandpaper - Organic Gardening - MOTHER EARTH NEWS

[4390evans]

They are sending me nuts atm, Ive been trying to be nice and putting them in my compost thinking they might just stay there and leave my poor veg alone but no! Some have getting into my plastic green house thing and are slowly munching away, I've looked under the trays to see where they are but still to no avail. I can understand why some people chop em up!

[Raybon]

Saw an idea on youtube for raised beds - guttering nailed round rim, curved side down, filled with water, or nailed vertically round edge (curved side out) and rubbed with veg oil to make it too slippery for slugs to cope with.
I have not tried this myself!
Guttering can sometimes be found on skips.........

[Penellype]

We've had a tremendous amount of rain recently and most of my garden is still relatively intact. I've now used 2 lots of nematodes and I am tempted to try making my own. There are still slugs about, and nematodes are not my only line of defence. Other things I have done are:
- surrounded vulnerable plants with rings made from plastic bottles with copper tape round - this is working well for brassicas, peppers and a cucumber.
- surrounded plants with sheep's wool pellets ("slug gone") - this works with courgettes and appears to be effective for runner beans. I tried it with cabbages last year and it was hopeless.
- hardened off my seedlings on shelves made from parts of a blowaway greenhouse with copper tape stuck around the "legs". This is very effective - I have never had any slug damage at all on shelves used like this.
- used copper impregnated slug and weed matting to stand pots on in my cold frame and under the brassica netting. This is not 100% effective but very much better than standing the pots on the patio. I experimented with standing some of my plants on this and some in a drip tray on soil next to it in the growhouse. The drip tray plants were nibbled and slugs were hiding under it, whereas the plants on the copper mat were untouched and the slugs didn't hide under it.
- I also remove every slug or snail I find.

Obviously these methods are fairly intensive and would be expensive to apply on a large scale, but they are working for me.

[Jay22]

Just read an article on using scrunched up copper wire around your plants to prevent slugs and snails having them for dinner...any thoughts?

[WPG]

I've used all the methods which Penellype described, along with the usual coffee grounds, egg shells etc. So far, the most effective method by a long way has been copper - both the rather expensive copper bands which go around small plants, and also putting copper sellotape around pots. So far I don't think I've lost any plants which have copper protection. I haven't tried scrunched up copper wire Jay22, might give that a go too.

[Jay22]

Was listening to the radio today...the topic was slugs and what to do to prevent them eating your veggies. One of the ideas put forward by a guest gardener was to put seaweed round your plants. The idea is it's salty...they don't like salt and also as it dries it becomes hard and jaggy...they don't like that either...the slugs I mean. Has anyone tried this?

[Penellype]

I once tried sprinkling a barrier of salt around my cold frame - it made absolutely no difference to the slugs and snails, who simply crawled over it. I haven't tried seaweed as we are rather a long way from the sea here.

My latest trial is copper impregnated matting which I stand pots on. Combined with the other methods it seems to be working ok although the odd rogue slug does get in.


Broccoli seedlings under veggiemesh, standing on slug, snail and weed matting on the patio. I would have expected these to have been severely damaged if they had been left unprotected.

[Knight of Albion]

Watering in the morning instead of in the evening can reduce slug damage by up to 80% ...

Slugs need moisture!

[ancee]

Search the forum, there's info about brewing your own nematodes.. And... Happy hunting, night time and a torch, doing the gardeners a patrol. Think of the theme tune of dad's army

I've been searching RedThorn but can't find how to brew them

[Bren In Pots]

I've been searching RedThorn but can't find how to brew them

Ancee here's the link :- http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ied_64107.html

I use this search instead of the vines :-

site:www. growfruitandveg.co.uk

just type what you're looking for in front of the link then remove the space after the www.