Making your own slug nematodes - anyone tried it??

[pipscariad]

Hi Pipscariad - don't think we've "met" before. Maybe there'll be some local event that we can all get to and have a real meet!
I can imagine the smell after a fortnight - yuk!! Wonder whether a large milk or water container or a sweetie jar would do. Stuff the leaves and slugs down the neck and put the top back on with a couple of air holes in the top. Give the container a shake, rather than a stir, pour the liquid off through some fine mesh, throw the slug gunk in the compost and put the lid back on for next time.

Sounds a good plan, although stuffing 50 slugs into a bottle might be slightly tedious...! I've yet to decant my slugs into anything, so will consider doing that. I think it says to keep the slugs to start the second nematode mix off - all a bit yukky, but I'll try it once and see if I can stomach it.

Marchogaeth, I'm on the 'lowlands' near St Davids, so the Preseli's are in the distance for me, but we can't be too far away as the crow flies. Veggiechicken you're right, we haven't met on here before, not sure why as I used to be on here nearly all the time! It was a resolution for me to try to spend less time on the Vine and more in the garden, hence my absence.

Yup, it'll be a peg on the nose job when it comes to decanting the brew for sure!

[salome2001]

According to my son's Oliver Jeffers book, "boke" is an Irish word for emptying the contents of one's stomach...

[veggiechicken]

Thank you Salome - I thought you might have missed out an 'n'.

[salome2001]

No vc, I certainly was not thinking along those lines!

[Ananke]

I love all things DIY but just reading the instructions for this was giving me the boak. It's times like these I wish my boys were ten years old again, this would have been right up their street.

[bearded bloke]

(needs emoticon that resembles imminent boking)

Ere yer go .............

[pipscariad]

Update.... Well, two weeks on and the slugs all seem to have died (hopefully from nematode bacteria...) - it's not a sight for the squeamish, and yes, the smell is a bit grim! I'm going to leave it a bit longer just to be on the safe side, then mix it up with water and give it a whirl. Whilst niffy, it's still not as bad as the seaweed tea or the the water/couch grass/etc gunk - yet

[marchogaeth]

Oddly, I don't seem to have any number of slugs yet. A genuinely unusual experience.
Thanks for keeping us posted. A soon as I have slugs I will be there with you.

[marchogaeth]

Oddly, I don't seem to have any number of slugs yet. A genuinely unusual experience.
Thanks for keeping us posted. A soon as I have slugs I will be there with you.

I have slugs! I've been out and picked dozens and dozens of the really tiny ones and the odd big, icky one today and they are in a bucket of water with veggie raft.

Pips' are you seeing any sign that it's working yet? Was hoping to see a post about how wonderful it was by now!

[BarleySugar]

Reminds me, I must stop feeding any I find the the chooks and make them work for the greater good of the worls by exterminating their relatives

[pipscariad]

*blushes* - sorry Marchogaeth, I haven't started using it yet! It's one of those 'to do' things on a very long list. If the smell is anything to go by, it should be great (but whether it will kill off the slugs or just me remains to be seen....)

It's been so bloomin' wet and windy that I haven't felt like 'messing' down at the plot, it's been a quick zoom to do the hens and head back home. I shall report back as soon as I get it going, but in the meantime yours can be brewing nicely. Very icky but strangely satisfying!

[marchogaeth]

Good to know you are still checking in. I'm suddenly being inundated with tiny, tiny slugs more than previous years. Very few big ones yet. But it's the small (quiet) ones that are the worst isn't it?

[blossom55]

Dead bodies are a deterrent? You mean my local slugs cannibal habits aren't normal? I've only got to squish one and walk away, and they're out, chewing away. Gross!

I put some marigolds in a pot and in the spirit of research put a beer trap and some of those blue killers beside them. The marigolds all disappeared overnight. . .

[marchogaeth]

I have the healthiest slugs in the world. They have been in their bin for weeks now and are just getting bigger and bigger. If I start to see eggs being laid I will give up!

I may have to seed with bought nematodes after all.

[pipscariad]

I have the healthiest slugs in the world. They have been in their bin for weeks now and are just getting bigger and bigger. If I start to see eggs being laid I will give up!

I may have to seed with bought nematodes after all.

Ah, interesting to read this - I thought of you yesterday when I used my vile home-made concoction for the first time. It was pretty disgusting, very smelly and rather too mucus like for my sensibilities, but let's hope it works, I shall watch that bed with interest. I sprinkled a few organic slug pellets down too as a belt and braces measure.

It's a bit odd that your slugs are just growing! How long have they been in there? Is the bucket/tub sealed? Mine seemed to survive for about 2 weeks until they curled up their toes. It was a very unpleasant experience checking on them, as they all seemed to have headed away from their food island and migrated to the underside of the lid, shudder.

I think you need to be a bit meaner to 'em. Withdraw food privileges, and get 'em in this sunshine to make them hot and uncomfortable?