I think also that those of us who are lucky enough ( at the moment anyway ) not to be faced with the likes of the Spanish slug cannot conceive the problems they cause others.
You are right @philippasmith2, I've only encountered a limited number of these menaces so far! I'm still intrigued to know whether Euphorbias fight them off though! I try not to grow known slug delicacies in my garden and through trial and error now grow many of the plants on the GW slug proof list. I am also lucky to have a pair of blackbirds who examine the borders and lawn for food every day!
@Plantminded Do you find that the blackbirds eat slugs?
I don't think Spanish slugs are particularly Spanish, nor Spanish flu; nor French letters exceptionally French, nor Turkish baths Turkic. The appellations stuck, but are not usually that helpful. And no, JKW is not particularly Japanese - variations of it are native all over Asia.
I'm not sure whether they eat the adult slugs @Fire but possibly the eggs, so no hatchlings to develop into destroyers! Without tempting fate, I didn't see one slug in my garden last year, just a few snails. Still pondering about Euphorbia, it's just clicked. Those Spanish slugs don't like daleks either..............exterminate!!
Fortunately,I haven't had many, but from my very limited experience, they tend to stay on the surface and are therefore easier to spot and snip than the little black jobs.
No, not Spanish, but Southern Europe, I believe. Apparently, they produce huge numbers of eggs, but in hot, dry countries the outer layers are sacrificial, keeping inner eggs cooler and moist. In Northern Europe all the eggs hatch, leading to a very successful invasion. They also produce enormous quantities of slime when they are threatened and this puts off predators. I don't know if anything eats the eggs but they are usually well hidden.
We seem to suffer from many incoming pests, these days but I don't think our naming policies are entirely acceptable!
I have been pondering compost bins. I have seen videos that suggest the critters in compost bins might predate slug/snail eggs in compost bins, but I'm not convinced. I see a lot of mollusc eggs in the roof and top of my compost bins. I take them out and squish them. I don't really see why we would assume eggs mixed in would not transfer to the end product and then get spread all over the garden.
I make a fair amount of my own compost. My bins don't get much about 30oC. I don't have room for bigger bins. I wonder if I am going out of my way to make my mollusc problems worse. I almost can't see how it couldn't be so. They bins are heaving with life - worms, wood lice, fungus gnats, ants and a 100 types of visible and invisible critter, but it's a big jump, I think, to assume they would predate any and all eggs.
If slugs weren't nuking my garden as is, maybe it wouldn't matter that much. I don't subscribe to the theory that in a small terraced space "it will all balance out on the end". Could part of the reason for all my problems be that I have been upping my home composting year on year? I wonder.
@Fire. We're both in London clay. You have a serious slug problem and I don't. I've been pondering the differences. From what I can tell, you put a great deal of effort into improving your soil and are very adventurous in your planting. Whereas I make a little effort to improve my soil but it still gets baked solid in the summer. My planting palette is much more limited. When I find something e.g. Penstemons that the slugs ignore, I plant as many varieties as I can find of that plant. I wonder if in providing the perfect environment for your plants, you're doing the same for your slugs.
What I don't get is - what difference does it make anyway if they [the RHS] class them as pests or not? It doesn't magically stop them eating plants, does it?
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I make lots of compost and I do see slugs in the heaps, but not very many. They like walls with gaps in, stones and slabs, log piles, fallen leaves. However, there's a balance in improving soil - if you don't do it, you won't be able to grow the plants you want, even if the slugs like it too.
But pest numbers vary, even in small areas. It may be nothing to do with the compost or planting and more to do your particular area.
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They also produce enormous quantities of slime when they are threatened and this puts off predators. I don't know if anything eats the eggs but they are usually well hidden.
We seem to suffer from many incoming pests, these days but I don't think our naming policies are entirely acceptable!
Whereas I make a little effort to improve my soil but it still gets baked solid in the summer. My planting palette is much more limited. When I find something e.g. Penstemons that the slugs ignore, I plant as many varieties as I can find of that plant.
I wonder if in providing the perfect environment for your plants, you're doing the same for your slugs.
It doesn't magically stop them eating plants, does it?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
But pest numbers vary, even in small areas. It may be nothing to do with the compost or planting and more to do your particular area.