12 June 2011
Slugs and snails are out in force now that there has been rain in many areas...so what's the best method of control if you suddenly find that they're attacking your vegetable plants?
What to do
Slugs and snails are always extremely fond of
lovely soft, succulent new plant growth and
you may need to take some precautions :
‘Barrier’ controls: Create a barrier around each plant, or along
the row. Things that work well include :
pine needles, crushed eggshells (but you’d need to run an omelette factory!),
crushed sea-shells, soot, coco-shell (the stuff you buy in large bags as a
garden mulch), or get hold of some ‘oyster-shell’, its often available from
animal feed suppliers and is sold for a supplement for laying birds such as
hens or geese. Its basically crushed
shell, and works out far, far cheaper than the shells you buy in garden centres
. I always use this and it works
brilliantly.
Whatever you choose , use it to create a complete circle (not
just a ring, around the base of the plant/along the row, making sure that no
lower leaves on the plants act as bridges across which the slugs or snails
could cross. The circle needs to go
right up to the base of the plant – the worst slug offenders spend about 80% of
their lives underground, so could easily pop up from below ground and attack if
the barrier was not complete.
Copper : Copper is not something slugs or snails
like to cross. You can buy copper rings
(expensive but long lasting), copper paint (I guess to paint the sides of a pot or raised bed), copper
impregnated mulch-matting (quite pricey but works well and lasts many years),
or copper tape. The tape is especially
suitable for sticking around the rim of a pot (its generally self-adhesive),
you could also use it around the top of the vertical edge of a raised bed, but
the soil within the bed would need to be slug/snail free or else you’d be
locking the pests in as well as out !
Biological control : A fantastic pathogenic
nematode which is only harmful to slugs as it works underground. As slugs are
based above ground, they’re not damaged, unfortunately! Extremely useful, especially for preventing
slug problems with potato crops ie underground crops, but also helps to clear
an area of soil. Pricey but also very
effective.
‘Green’
chemicals: I’m not going to suggest you use the classic chemical-based slug
pellets, they’re just too awful, but there are several ‘green’ or organic slug
control s on the market which have a pretty good track record.
What do I use? : just the oyster shell, and the nematode if
things are bad ! Its also worth going on
early evening ie dusk time hunts, especially after it has rained or you’ve just
watered, its amazing how many you’ll be able to collect. ....it'll all help to reduce numbers of these slimy pests in your garden!
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