I've had success with nematodes for slugs in a 4ft square raised strawberry bed. At least, I think I have... of course, you don't see any bodies, so it's possible there were simply not many slugs around that year...
Not all slug species are susceptible to the nematode. The grey field slug (the little one which lives at the base of plants) is susceptible, but as far as I can tell from the Net, some of the larger species are not. If you look up Arion subfuscus you may find that this is the slug you have, happily unaffected by the nematodes.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Ah. Very useful to know. Thanks Liri. There are a wide variety of slugs I'm noticing at the front - a huge variety for a two square metre bed - at least eight different types. But complete visible absence of leopards, which dominate at the back. To be investigated further...
I haven't seen many slugs or snails this year -not even crawling across the wet grass after rain. I haven't done anything special apart from the odd search and snip.
I have a young Rudbeckia laciniata Herbstsonne that was doing okay until a couple of mornings ago when I noticed a few leaves had large chunks missing. I put a copper ring around the base. I just did my slug/snail hunt a few minutes ago and found a large garden snail trying to do a trapeze act to get over the ring with minimal touching. After watching it to confirm it failed and gave up, I deposited it across the road with all the other snails & slugs.
The set of copper rings I have do seem to work for me at least. Perhaps it's that I have more of a snail problem than a slug problem or perhaps because I only tend to protect one or two plants at a time, there's always an easier option for them eat nearby.
Well you want to keep your leopard slug. I have sometimes thought of creating a leopard slug enclosure round the veg garden to have them as the slug equivalent of a lion pit.
I have tried again tonight, another round of Nematodes, now that the night temp is solidly over 5oC and sodden with rain, and more rain forecast. In London we only had solid temps over 5oC from early June. We had a frost warning on 23 May.
Reading the Basf Nemaslug packet, it seems that there are a great deal more caveats given these days:
This seems like a contradiction in terms. The Uk doesn't reliably get guaranteed night temps over 5oC in April.
So, doing this, as I have, in mid June, seems to be the wrong timing, but the earliest timing this year, for me.
This might explain why nematodes have not been working on my front garden, as they are full of adult slugs and Spanish slugs and areas are usually dry during the summer.
I'm glad they seem to work for some people, maybe with few adult or Spanish slugs.
I'm not convinced of the wildlife benefits of ferric anti slug pellets.
Have you tried a "slug pub"? I had a good one once that had a separate sieve type insert so you could empty it out in the morning without lifting the whole thing. Can't see it now though. Could maybe make my own using a little pond basket inside a sunken pot.
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Not all slug species are susceptible to the nematode. The grey field slug (the little one which lives at the base of plants) is susceptible, but as far as I can tell from the Net, some of the larger species are not. If you look up Arion subfuscus you may find that this is the slug you have, happily unaffected by the nematodes.
The set of copper rings I have do seem to work for me at least. Perhaps it's that I have more of a snail problem than a slug problem or perhaps because I only tend to protect one or two plants at a time, there's always an easier option for them eat nearby.