Unfortunately one of my potted Hellebore Niger plants proved irresistable to the slugs this yr. It's just about starting to regrow.
I did however discover that crusts of soya/wholegrain type breads proved to be slug magnets! Put some down for the birds & everytime ended up going out & collecting loads of slugs!Better if damp/wet btw. J.
They don't seem to like antirrhinums either! Aren't nematodes pretty terrible for the slugs? I use limestone chipping paths round my vegetable patch and they don't like crossing the chippings.
I had a terrible problem with slugs and snails last year, they devoured alot of my plants to oblivion. This year I am ready for them. I have bought a collection of slug traps, 16m of copper tape to go round pots and also to put a strip around a section of old plastic cola bottle and sink into soil around new plants, will use garlic infused water and coffee grounds aswel as crushed egg shells over some areas. If this dont get them then I will try dynamite..
I have read several times that French Marigolds and Nasturtiums inbetween your crops work to deter slugs from eating them, also in the greenhouse it's said that they deter aphids, white fly and black fly from tomato's and peppers. I have bought some French Marigold's so I will be giving them a try
I am not too sure that we can win the battle. This year, because the ground has been so waterlogged, I have come face to face with them crawling across my windows, eating the Wisteria over the garage door, on the very top of my Runner Bean poles and even at the top of a Cucumber plant in my greenhouse. They are very resourseful! We humans still enforce hosepipe bans and tolerate being flooded out. Do we ever build more reservoirs upstream to collect and supply our water as required? NO.
I don't remember snails when I was little, here in the Pennines. I would have remembered, because I have never, ever picked a worm up again since my mother rescued half a worm from my mouth when I was at that age! If there had been snails I would have been terrified of them, too. But - when we lived in the South in the 70s Our little son collected snails from our garden. It was the first time that I had seen them. We didn't have them on the allotment - just rabbits!
When we returned to the north in the 80s I noticed snails here up to about 300feet, but none in our garden at 600feet. Now they have certainly climbed. Is this actually climate change? Another thing - it is now fashionable to grow in raised beds and not bother digging. If you dig you will uncover masses of snail eggs - little shiny pearls that look as if they should be decorating a bunch of cup cakes! So we do not remove them at source. I once attended the most wonderful lecture by Chris Beardshaw and he informed us that adult snails look after their eggs by returning to them and covering them with secretions to keep them soft. If we kill mummy and daddy, babies' shells harden and the snails start to eat and grow, and the population explodes! Have you also noticed that they hang out in gangs under plants that they don't eat e.g. Bergania, Cyclamen, Francoa - but so does my fat, resident frog!
Posts
I did however discover that crusts of soya/wholegrain type breads proved to be slug magnets! Put some down for the birds & everytime ended up going out & collecting loads of slugs!Better if damp/wet btw. J.
They don't seem to like antirrhinums either! Aren't nematodes pretty terrible for the slugs? I use limestone chipping paths round my vegetable patch and they don't like crossing the chippings.
They didnt seem to eat my penstemon.
some good ideas here of things to try
don't worry super slug is on its way,will eat all English snails and then.......
I had a terrible problem with slugs and snails last year, they devoured alot of my plants to oblivion. This year I am ready for them. I have bought a collection of slug traps, 16m of copper tape to go round pots and also to put a strip around a section of old plastic cola bottle and sink into soil around new plants, will use garlic infused water and coffee grounds aswel as crushed egg shells over some areas. If this dont get them then I will try dynamite..
I have read several times that French Marigolds and Nasturtiums inbetween your crops work to deter slugs from eating them, also in the greenhouse it's said that they deter aphids, white fly and black fly from tomato's and peppers. I have bought some French Marigold's so I will be giving them a try
I am not too sure that we can win the battle. This year, because the ground has been so waterlogged, I have come face to face with them crawling across my windows, eating the Wisteria over the garage door, on the very top of my Runner Bean poles and even at the top of a Cucumber plant in my greenhouse. They are very resourseful! We humans still enforce hosepipe bans and tolerate being flooded out. Do we ever build more reservoirs upstream to collect and supply our water as required? NO.
I don't remember snails when I was little, here in the Pennines. I would have remembered, because I have never, ever picked a worm up again since my mother rescued half a worm from my mouth when I was at that age! If there had been snails I would have been terrified of them, too. But - when we lived in the South in the 70s Our little son collected snails from our garden. It was the first time that I had seen them. We didn't have them on the allotment - just rabbits!
When we returned to the north in the 80s I noticed snails here up to about 300feet, but none in our garden at 600feet. Now they have certainly climbed. Is this actually climate change? Another thing - it is now fashionable to grow in raised beds and not bother digging. If you dig you will uncover masses of snail eggs - little shiny pearls that look as if they should be decorating a bunch of cup cakes! So we do not remove them at source. I once attended the most wonderful lecture by Chris Beardshaw and he informed us that adult snails look after their eggs by returning to them and covering them with secretions to keep them soft. If we kill mummy and daddy, babies' shells harden and the snails start to eat and grow, and the population explodes! Have you also noticed that they hang out in gangs under plants that they don't eat e.g. Bergania, Cyclamen, Francoa - but so does my fat, resident frog!
I have plenty in my 960ft above garden, slugs with attitude at altitude.
I didn't have a problem as I used nematodes, but it was expensive, £60.00 last year, but then apparently the country ran out of them!
I cant understand how they claim to breed in the slug and then claim to only last 6 weeks.
I am just going to get plants they dont like, plent suggested here.