This last winter was unusually mild and combined with the damp autumn before that and the plentiful supply of rain over recent months, you can be sure that we are in for a nightmare slug year!I’ve already had lots of reports of early and worrying slug activity. As spring weather arrives slugs soon start to breed in earnest so prompt control of the adults is essential if you don’t want the problem to hurtle out of control. Just think how many potential new slugs each adult represents!!
Keep an eye open for slug eggs (laid in clumps of tiny clear or milky or yellowish spheres) you’re likely to find them beneath flopped leaves, in among organic debris, under pots and trays etc.
The best method I know is using nematodes, (available as Nemaslug) which can be applied as a drench to treat soil or compost as soon as soil temperatures rise above 5C….and for just about all of the country, that’s now! The Nemaslug Nematodes swim through the soil and into the slugs, killing them for you! Unlike slug controls applied to the soil surface, nematode controls (aka Nemaslug) can also control those slugs which are beneath the soil’s surface. The small black keeled slugs are one of the most troublesome and yet they spend a high percentage of their lives beneath the soil surface. Keeled slugs are the ones most often responsible for tunneling into potatoes and even eating germinating seeds before any growth appears above ground! They also attack a wide range of plants in flower beds, borders and pots, and other veg plants too. A nematode drench will sort them out, so saving you a lot of trouble later in the growing season and meaning you can plant out young veg or flower plants or sow seeds and know they have a much better chance of surviving and then thriving!
You can order Nemaslug from this website www.pippagreenwood.com/products in the ‘Protect your Crops’ section and we will have it dispatched promptly and by First Class post. There are two pack sizes available, for 40m2 or 100m2 and each treatment lasts about 6 weeks.
Of course one of the many advantages of nematode controls such as Nemaslug is that they are totally safe environmentally and pose no threat to humans, pets, wildlife…just slugs!