Making your own slug nematodes - anyone tried it??

[marchogaeth]

The slugs I collected originally lived happily for over six weeks and clearly died of old age or starvation and not nematodes! I collecting more this week and they are going to get a seeding of purchased nematode when I apply it to the poly and garden. (Just waiting for the rain to ease off a bit. I know the nematodes need moist ground but not this moist!)

[Two_Sheds]

There's been a definite reduction in the number of slugs now, going from over 1000 to just a few dozen per night. I don't know if any of that is down to the nemotode soup, because I've also been salting them and using organic pellets around the worst-affected plants (they totally destroy my dahlias and hostas in one sitting).

Now, I'm not making the soup on its own, but am adding live slugs to my comfrey tea bottles. They can sit on the comfrey leaves until they die, and hopefully any nemotode action is going into the brew as well.

[Feral007]

Hmmm well maybe I should follow in TS's footsteps. I could put one of those floaty horse scones in the top of the manure tea barrel and tell the slugs it's a life raft?

[SeleneMourie]

This is on my 'things to do in 2013 plan'
In all honesty how well did this go for everybody?
I hate slugs and all ways kill them quickly (well as quick as i can) I'm just a bit iffy about watching them die for two weeks :/
If it does work though i will take the plunge as at the end of the day the veg is for us not them!

[Feral007]

My son won't be in it. He can't abide killing anything (and like Ts's schoolkids, he'e very cautious about me wanting to catch things....)

[SeleneMourie]

I spotted 2 little slugs in the garden yesterday whilst moving containers... and debated it should be warmer before i start the mass murdering. With this weather they might freeze to death in a bucket?
Another issue i have is that i got the boy 2 Albino giant African land snails as pets and will have another 200 snail eggs a month to kill on top of what is at the plot and garden :/

[pipscariad]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread as I have just started my first batch for 2013, now on day 5 and hopefully brewing nicely. It did work really well for me last time, but I made the fatal mistake of getting complacent as things were going so well, and didn't re-apply it soon enough and the little (or rather big ) b*****s took advantage of the time lapse and attacked. *shakes head sadly* 2012 was a bad year for my veg.

I have actually bought some nematode powder this year as I need to put it down now to protect my emerging seedlings, so when I'm making it up I'm going to add a teaspoon to the slug bucket to kick start it, although it worked fine without this last time.

[marchogaeth]

Another issue i have is that i got the boy 2 Albino giant African land snails as pets and will have another 200 snail eggs a month to kill on top of what is at the plot and garden :/

I love land snails, they are just like cats! Eggs are easy - freezer.

[stella]

Does this really work?

[Two_Sheds]

This isn't at all scientific, but I've just done a midnight patrol for slugs & snails, and found only 11.

This time last year it was over 1,000

I'd like to say the homemade nematode brew* is working



* I simply put slugs & snails in the comfrey tea bottles and they cling on to the leaves for a few days before dying. The theory is that some S&S are natural carriers of the nematode, and by putting them in bottles the nematodes then infest the liquid comfrey water, which I use to water the garden ~ thereby giving the soil a good dose of nematodes with every watering.

[Tripmeup]

I used my latest batch yesterday evening, so will wait and see....

I did use some last year as well, but it was so wet last year, and such a bad year for slugs, it was hard to tell how successful it was...

I am doing regular nightly patrols this year and so far, it has been very manageable....

[Crazy_Tomato_lady]

Might be a bit early to resurrect this thread for this year but it's something I want to try and I guess the sooner you start the more effective it is!!

[veggiechicken]

For recent posts - have a look at http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1328474

[marchogaeth]

You need the natural population to be showing signs of nematode infection before you start. http://blog.une.edu.au/thesweepnet/f...83ffa7dfe356c8 for example - jolly good pic.

[muddled]

So, another year and another grape to ressurect this thread!

I must say, having read this thread from beginning to end, I have laughed out loud several times. The posts about suspicious school children are particularly hilarious and even if this experiment doesn't work, it will have been worth it for entertainment value alone!

I have ordered some nematodes and persuaded my long suffering lottie neighbour to join me in this grim plan.

I;m thinking that I will start a brew in a bucket with a teaspoon of the powder and use the rest in the normal way on one empty bed that is warming under black plastic.
That plastic is home to an alarming number of slimies and will serve to keep the soil damp and wet while the nematodes do their thing.
Then I will feed my evil concoction with the (hopefully) infected slugs which will be easy to gather from the underside of the plastic.

Just writing this is turning my stomach.

Wish me luck people....I'm going in