Done Slug Patrol

[ESBkevin]

Did nematodes back about the end of April so just re applied them (been awaiting some wet weather). This weekends downpour was just what was needed so Sunday afternoon another £30 worth of nematodes went down.

I also use the blue pellets inside netted areas with strawberries or Greens to reduce any damage to other wildlife. I've got other bottle traps etc, but a combined and concerted effort is the only thing that will work.

Having waited for some decent rain it's now deluged and my onions, shallots and garlic have blight. It's all over the plots, one neighbour kindly sprayed some of his chemical on mine and several others plots as I had none at the time. Now I've bought some anti fungal the weather is predicting rain every day until the weekend!!!! I wonder if I mix some vegetable oil and disk soap with the spray it will stick long enough to do good?

Having struggled to get everything in the ground I'm now going to have to fight to keep it, and I have a mole (or two). One of the raised beds is so full of compost etc that the worm activity has attracted a mole and the whole bed is like swiss cheese under the top 'sheet mulch'. In addition the mole has branched out and run amuck in the tender onion seedlings and through my root crop seeded area and on under the wire mesh leaf mould cage! Three traps set but nothing so far, I'm tempted to put a hose on the rotavator exhaust and shove that down the hole.

[Scoot]

I have 10 litres of the stuff! (wool pellets). They work if the weather is dry as they stay rough (mind me, you need to put a lot and keep topping it up). Rain softens them up and the slugs can cross them comfortably. I use "pet-safe" slug pellets but, with so much rain lately, they melt. So again I need to top them up every day which seems pointless. Funny eh, all the stuff that is meant to deter/exterminate slugs don't work well with rain.. Hello! Slugs come out in rainy nights... The blue pellets (non-pet safe) seem to work better but as I live on a slope and near to a river I feel awful using chemical stuff. Wouldn't want the cows in the nearby field drinking anything dodgy!

Yeah, I use the per/wildlife safe ones. I'm very much a wildlife type person and I love to see birds, hedgehogs, wood mice etc in my garden and I would hate to think I'd killed anything using nasty slug pellets. Along with the fact I have a dog too.

I use the nasty blue pellets in my greenhouses where nothing can get it.

[chasingmytail]

organic pellets

I am new to this but are organic slug pellets not safe at all then for wildlife etc? What about the residue left in the soil? We are in our first year of growing and its not going too good while our friends throw every chemical at their amazing crop seem to laugh at me for being so green sadly I have some very holey lettuces now and the sweet peas are more like skeletons.

[SusieG]

Overnight bands of slugs have attacked beetroot leaves, left them in tatters, also lettuce seedlings and the long lamented Spring onions. I'm doomed with not having any Spring onions .....
Also low lying runner bean foliage......
Had to sprinkle some of the 'pet friendly' pellets for damage limitation .....

[Farmer_Gyles]

Having lost an entire crop of brassicas, an entire crop of lettuce and two sowing of beetroot to slugs, I've resorted to pelleting ..... it needs to be done regularly to seriously reduce numbers and protect crops ..... I saw hundreds of slugs on the plot at 7am this morning .....

[Baldy]

Cadalot's slug traps are a good way to use blue pellets to kill slugs and keep the pellets away from other wildlife. Pop bottles turned into lobster pot -like contraptions. Also keeps rain off the pellets. Can be used with beer / yeast solution too.

[Bigmallly]

Cadalot's slug traps are a good way to use blue pellets to kill slugs and keep the pellets away from other wildlife. Pop bottles turned into lobster pot -like contraptions. Also keeps rain off the pellets. Can be used with beer / yeast solution too.

It could well be my age Balders but I can't see a post from Cad.

[Baldy]

It could well be my age Balders but I can't see a post from Cad.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...-snails-2.html

On my phone so I'm a little less nimble BM

[Penellype]

Slug patrol today after my friend told me she had removed 7 trowel fulls of slugs from her garden this morning, including some that were climbing the runner beans.

Hunted down about 20 of the beggars in the veg patch there, mainly on the lettuces. Also found a welcome visitor in the shape of a small toad. The slugs have completely annihilated the celeriac and 2 of the 6 runner beans plants.

At home I have just been out to have a look and managed to find 2 slugs. The difference is staggering, and is probably due to a combination of factors:
My friend's garden backs onto fields and contains loads of bushes, borders and undergrowth. Mine is suburban and has relatively little permanent planting.
Both gardens were doused with nematodes on the same day in April.
A large amount of my planting at home is in pots, many protected with copper tape. Most of the planting at my friend's is directly in the soil.
A great deal of the soil at home is mulched with "Strulch" which is supposed to deter slugs and snails. Mulches at my friend's are compost or rotted horse muck.

I'm not saying I don't have a slug problem at home. They have nibbled the courgettes and made holes in the cabbages and potato leaves and I am having to be vigilant and remove them when I see them. Another dose of nematodes is on its way as soon as I am sure that they are not going to be washed away by a deluge.

[bobbin]

Ok...I know you're all going to roll your eyes and tell me I need to get out more,but.. I've had a bit of success with holly as a slug deterrent. I've got raised beds and tuck it closely together on the inside edge of the wood and around newly planted stuff. I've also packed it lightly inside my cucumber pot which is against a frame for the plant to climb. Yes the downside is it's a bit time consuming collecting it, especially as you've got to cut off the soft new growth at the moment.Obviously you need access to some holly. Your fellow growers will think you're nuts. Last but not least your plot will look a bit Christmassy!
I've also used jam jars on their side with polenta in them. It's being eaten hopefully by the slugs which I have been told it kills. I've not seen any dead ones but then nor have I as a result of putting slug pellets down. I've got weed suppressant between the beds and the critters like to hide next to the beds by day. Making it easy for me to er..relocate them! (Euphemism for squash!)
At home I do an evening slug hunt with a torch and a pot of salt water which seems to "affect" them instantly. Though I've been slightly embarrassed when I've not noticed until too late,someone going passed the gate as I've said out loud " come here you little b****r .
Can't do same on the lottie though. On there, If I'm not shovelling up slugs or shooing pigeons or removing aphids
I'm shovelling up disgusting cat crap . Ahh the joys of gardening.

[Marb67]

The worst slugs I am finding are the tiny ones, probably come from eggs. You can't see them easily but they do most damage. Even though my raised bed has new compost (a little garden soil too) they have emerged from that and already eating salad and chard leaves. I think it would be a lot worse if I didn't have a pong full of frogs.

[Cadalot]

Balders pointed to an old thread earlier on but I have shortened the video to be specifically about the slug traps.

[bobbin]

The worst slugs I am finding are the tiny ones, probably come from eggs. You can't see them easily but they do most damage. Even though my raised bed has new compost (a little garden soil too) they have emerged from that and already eating salad and chard leaves. I think it would be a lot worse if I didn't have a pong full of frogs.

This caught me at a weak moment Marb67 !!
I want a pong full of frogs too. Does the smell drive them away. I couldn't stop giggling at the picture it conjured up! Ah the joys of that miss typed letter. It was a grand start to the day.
I want a pong

[Stan79]

Get chickens... and a three year old child.

Three year old child finds the slugs and feeds them to the chickens all the while telling me merrily how disgusting the slugs are... Try and prevent child getting muddy and putting hand in mouth. Fail.



The other alternatives already listed are working for me too... Beer traps with Stella in. And similar pots to the beer traps but with the blue pellets in so that the chemicals don't go into the soil is also working quite well. I still have a fair bit of slug damage but we are keeping on top of them.


I also let the chooks have the roam of the plot before i had realy started planting and went around turning the planks i use as walkways over so that they could eat everything underneath them so i think we got a bit of a head start on some of them this year!

[Scoot]

Some of the leaves on my smaller swede plants have took a bit of a hammering but apart from that I've been lucky up to now.

I'll still be heading out in an hours time though with some slug pellets.