Runner beans -slug midnight feast!
me london
Posts: 119
Hello there!
Started an allotment late last year, which is great but I think may have it's own set of problems! I've grown runner beans in my garden, every year without a hiccup. I planted out some fairly healthy runners (that I grew in the greenhouse) at the allotment, but the whole lot have been eaten by slugs within a couple of days, leaving me with just a couple of stumps and the odd leaf on one or two. I won't swear here, but I certainly did today!
I'd scattered slug pellets, both organic (iron) and the blue nasties, but they did nothing to help protect my plants. Today I planted some more seeds into the ground and bought a bag of coarse sand and ran a ring of sand around the whole plot, a couple of inches wide and about an inch high to try and save any new ones and see what comes of the odd leafy stump I have left.
I guess am really up against it at an allotment? Any tips for allotment slugs please? I am beginning to think I stupidly planted them too near the compost bin, would it help to move them? But then the plot next door is unused and completely overgrown, so I guess that too is a great spot for slugs. Slug pubs and pellets just don't seem to work for me, but just not sure what else I can do. Am worried about putting any more of my carefully grown other veggies out too, just to get munched. I've some ready to go in asap. Very disheartening!
Posts
They do nest in compost heaps and emerge at night to look for fresh forage but they can travel further than one would think, so unless your plot is huge then resiting the compost hep won't help much.
Water plants in the morning if possible. A nice damp plant bed at night fall is party time for them.
You don't need to scatter slug pellets and I'm not an advocate of their use at all, though I garden at home and can pop out to cull.. The pellets are a bait as well as a slug poison. One near a bed will draw slugs in, scatter them and you will attract more slugs. If you have used them pick the slugs off then bin them and take them out the food chain. They are not particularly good for the hedgehog or bird populations.
The most successful strategy I have seen is 0V and 9V rails (from a 9V battery) of stainless wire clipped round raised bed timber. It delivers a non-lethal shock and they just move on elsewhere. No wildlife food chain bioaccumulation.
I avoid sowing direct wherever possible because the gastropods. I don't bother about them once plants are well established.
I have tried using large plastic drinks bottles as a barrier to keep the slugs off plants. It works some of the time. You can cut the top edge with pinking shears to give a serrated edge though I really don't know if slugs find that uncomfortable, and a band of copper tape around the bottle can help deter the gastropods. When bean plants are small I keep the top of the bottle intact and the lid firmly screwed on.
I had to resort to a thin scatter of slug pellets this week as the recent very damp weather has led to a far higher than normal amount of slugs in the garden. Normally the thrushes and blackbirds can keep on top of them. Scattered them as soon as the birds started roosting, in the hope that anything daft enough to eat one would have dissolved before the birds came back at dawn.
It might be worth hanging up a few bird feeders if you dont already to try and attract more birds into the area?
Thankyou, top tips! Really good ideas, thankyou
I shall try the bottles when the next runners come up, and my other half who's a dab hand at building things has offered to do the battery wire for me - he sounded quite pleased actually! I am lucky to have someone in my life who loves making things!
Thanks again, I feel like I may just win this battle of the slimey horrors!! Cheers too for the tip over checking the roots, never would've thought of that.
Thanks Logan! I did think of nematodes, but thought that it may be a waste of time in such a large area (allotment), tho am quite tempted to use them in my garden. Those things are quite expensive too and not 100% reliable. Mind you, nothing seems to be reliable!
Ceres, and Frank Davidson I just wanted to say thanks for the bottle tip and the electric wire tips. I used the bottles on my sweetcorn, and not only did it protect it from the slugs, but they've romped ahead in their own mini greenhouse! An added bonus and something I will do every year now - have had 3 complements from other allotment holders and I've credited you, grins. I think there will be others doing the same next year
And Frank Davidson, I've used the electric fences around my second lot of peas (the first got eaten beforehand) and my brussel sprouts and french beans - both have been nibble-free so far, thankyou, ace stuff.
Glad it worked.