The following facts I found in my documents, (using nematodes-without my judging!):
Infestations are less serious in dry weather but tend to become a problem during prolonged rainy weather. An individual grey field slug has the potential to produce 90,000 grandchildren and has approximately 27,000 teeth!
They live underground during the day, emerging at night to feed. One cubic metre of garden will on average contain up to 200 slugs. Slugs eat leaves, stems and roots of plants, weakening them and often causing them to die. They leave slimy trails over plants and soil, and are particularly devastating to seedlings and cuttings. Slugs leave their own individual scent trails so they can find their way home. Use packs of microscopic beneficial nematodes (eel worms) which are watered into pots or open ground with a watering can or hose. They enter the slug through a hole in its back while it is underground and poison it so that it will die within a few days underground, out of sight. Nematodes can be used indoors or outdoors, when temperatures are above 5°C. They remain in sufficient concentration to give good effectiveness for about 6 weeks. The best time to kill slugs is when the young are hatching in the spring, but nematodes can be applied all year round, whenever slugs are around. This year we were applying them in our glasshouses in January! Nematodes travel by slithering around the soil particles so the soil needs to be kept moist. If it is hot and dry they will either shrivel and die or hide away deep underground. These nematodes will kill snails if they come into contact with the soft part of their body. However snails feed on the surface, and the nematodes usually work underground within the soil so they are not a foolproof way of controlling snail populations. (The best way to deal with snails is to pick them off by hand or use a slug and snail trap).
there is no point in applying nematodes in the winter, start again in March. you could try a liquid slug killer, if the ground isnt frozen. At least its better than seeing all those horrible blue bits on the ground.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
acording to my sources, Deroceras reticulatum, the "grey field slug"
Habitat
Deroceras reticulatum is almost exclusively restricted to cultivated areas, usually in open habitats, in meadows, near roadsides, in ruins, gardens and parks, not inside forests. It shelters under stones and ground litter (does not burrow into the soil). It is active at night.
The Garden Slug is the smal??lest of our nuis??ance slugs, typ??ic??ally reach??ing no more than 3cm (1?????) in length. However, it makes up for its small size by its vo??ra??cious ap??pet??ite. It???s a small black??ish creature with a pale side stripe and, like all Arion spe??cies, is char??ac??ter??ised by its roun??ded cross sec??tion. The sole is yel??low or or??ange, as is the mu??cus.
This slug at??tacks from all angles. At ground level it chomps its way through the stems of tender young plants and de??vours the leaves of ve??get??ables such as lettuce. It climbs to munch the high??er leaves, and also the hearts of cauli??flowers. Still not con??tent, it bur??rows deep be??neath the soil, at??tack??ing root crops such as the potato, car??rot and beet??root, and even flower??ing bulbs.
Posts
so when you find a slug in a hole in a spud you've just dug up? or the rotting tubers of something that's died? Where did they come from?
In the sticks near Peterborough
http://www.slugoff.co.uk/slug-facts/bad-slugs
the little ones with the yellow/orange bellies. Little b......s
In the sticks near Peterborough
I think Berghill somehow has made a unintended contradiction as keel slugs living underground was mentioned earlier this morning
We still are no further forward though
Perhaps Sarah Garrett will come through with some more details soon.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Waving at Sarah.
The following facts I found in my documents, (using nematodes-without my judging!):
Infestations are less serious in dry weather but tend to become a problem during prolonged rainy weather. An individual grey field slug has the potential to produce 90,000 grandchildren and has approximately 27,000 teeth!
They live underground during the day, emerging at night to feed. One cubic metre of garden will on average contain up to 200 slugs. Slugs eat leaves, stems and roots of plants, weakening them and often causing them to die. They leave slimy trails over plants and soil, and are particularly devastating to seedlings and cuttings. Slugs leave their own individual scent trails so they can find their way home. Use packs of microscopic beneficial nematodes (eel worms) which are watered into pots or open ground with a watering can or hose. They enter the slug through a hole in its back while it is underground and poison it so that it will die within a few days underground, out of sight. Nematodes can be used indoors or outdoors, when temperatures are above 5°C. They remain in sufficient concentration to give good effectiveness for about 6 weeks. The best time to kill slugs is when the young are hatching in the spring, but nematodes can be applied all year round, whenever slugs are around. This year we were applying them in our glasshouses in January! Nematodes travel by slithering around the soil particles so the soil needs to be kept moist. If it is hot and dry they will either shrivel and die or hide away deep underground. These nematodes will kill snails if they come into contact with the soft part of their body. However snails feed on the surface, and the nematodes usually work underground within the soil so they are not a foolproof way of controlling snail populations. (The best way to deal with snails is to pick them off by hand or use a slug and snail trap).
"To know what we know, and know what we do not know, that is understanding."(Confucius) Eco Thai German Farm, farmersvoice
there is no point in applying nematodes in the winter, start again in March. you could try a liquid slug killer, if the ground isnt frozen. At least its better than seeing all those horrible blue bits on the ground.
acording to my sources, Deroceras reticulatum, the "grey field slug"
HabitatDeroceras reticulatum is almost exclusively restricted to cultivated areas, usually in open habitats, in meadows, near roadsides, in ruins, gardens and parks, not inside forests. It shelters under stones and ground litter (does not burrow into the soil). It is active at night.
The Garden Slug
Garden Slug (Arion hortensis)
The Garden Slug is the smal??lest of our nuis??ance slugs, typ??ic??ally reach??ing no more than 3cm (1?????) in length. However, it makes up for its small size by its vo??ra??cious ap??pet??ite. It???s a small black??ish creature with a pale side stripe and, like all Arion spe??cies, is char??ac??ter??ised by its roun??ded cross sec??tion. The sole is yel??low or or??ange, as is the mu??cus.
This slug at??tacks from all angles. At ground level it chomps its way through the stems of tender young plants and de??vours the leaves of ve??get??ables such as lettuce. It climbs to munch the high??er leaves, and also the hearts of cauli??flowers. Still not con??tent, it bur??rows deep be??neath the soil, at??tack??ing root crops such as the potato, car??rot and beet??root, and even flower??ing bulbs.
get rid of the??? Then I may be able to read your message.