Slugs - 2015

[noviceveggrower]

Hi, hardly had any so far. They seemed to of left everything alone apart from my radish but saying that they haven't totalled my crop like last year they have only munched on a couple and left the rest.

[Lumpy]

I am now beginning to get really worried as we are a slug and snail free zone. Are these slimey little destroyers planning an invasion en masse when I least expect it or has the flock of sparrows who live in the hedge finally began to earn their winter feeds by forming the birdy version of the SAS (sparrow attack squad).

Strange is'nt it we normally moan about having too many and now we are concerned about where they are.

[cilla]

Don't worry they are in my garden!

[maverick451]

My garden is usually infested with them but my late evening patrols have turned up much less than previous years, Im seeing alot more snails than slugs but probably only 50% off the amount last year

[Jungle Jane]

I've been finding hundreds of slug eggs (when I remove the top 50% of compost from pots & troughs). I've been laying it over my border edge & sparrows,blackbirds even pigeons are helping me out,eating them. A sparrow landed on my tomato stem the other day,to eat a greenfly. Got a few greenflies,spiders webs on my washing line collect loads of them. The snails Ive been finding have been huge & antique looking,the slugs I find are tiny,I think we'll notice them more once they've (eaten our plants) grown bigger.

[KevinM67]

Could the relative absence of slugs so far this year be down to us having a proper defined Winter ?

The previous Winter 2013/14 was very very mild.

[PyreneesPlot]

As well as a proper winter, I wonder if it might be down to a reduction in the use of slug pellets so the slug predators who were also getting poisoned are starting to make a comeback, giving a little more balance.
I have no evidence either way, it is just a thought.

[KevinM67]

As well as a proper winter, I wonder if it might be down to a reduction in the use of slug pellets so the slug predators who were also getting poisoned are starting to make a comeback, giving a little more balance.
I have no evidence either way, it is just a thought.

With regards to slug pellets - do the slugs die instantly or does it take a bit of time (I've never used them)

The reason I ask (and I hope I don't come across as too thick here) if you put pellets down and you also net your crops from birds - would the slugs just die and the birds and other slug eaters be unable to get to them ?

Or would the slugs munch the pellets, come back out from the netted crops and then be possibly devoured by a predator ?

[ancee]

Not many to report here either really. But aphids! My goodness, everything is infested! I have never known it so bad!

[danny31]

Slugs present and behaving as expected. I am thinking of planting only thistles next year. That'll teach them.