Lettuce / Cabbage under attack!

TOm Kelly

New plants being nibbled at and will disappear in another day or two ... are slug pellets any good for this? Thank You.

muffler

FFS Im in the wrong forum - thats the last time Im drinking on a Monday night

NextSteps

There was a thread about this a week or two ago

bmaxi

TOm Kelly wrote:

New plants being nibbled at and will disappear in another day or two ... are slug pellets any good for this? Thank You.

Probably slugs or snails for the lettuce, have you seen any slimy trails? Lay slug pellets. Cabbage is more likely to be caterpillars, at this stage physically removing caterpillars and egg clusters is the best solution.

Irish Gardener

Hello TOm Kelly, some info on the topic to be found here

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=100

crosstownk

bmaxi wrote:

Lay slug pellets.

Slug pellets FTW! For slow moving creatures, they sure chew their way through some amount of vegetation.

magicbastarder

beer. i put a beer trap down recently, and got over 60 slugs in three nights.

do slug pellets actually attract slugs to them? that's one of the benefits of beer, they're attracted to the smell.

littlebug

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055070660

After that thread I have my plan of action in place.

1. Slug traps (bought in local garden centre)
2. Copper tape for around the pots.
3. A type of gel which claims to be chemical free and harmless to other wildlife but they don't cross it. The slugs supposedly don't cross it.

I haven't actually used any of the above yet as I'm holding off on planting for another week or so (still as risk of frost I'm told) but I'll put the traps out starting tonight anyway.
If the above (and other tips from that thread) don't work I'll resort to the slug pellets.

TOm Kelly

Thanks everybody - will check out those links ...

magicbastarder - how did you make your beer trap?

magicbastarder

i sank an old salsa dip jar into the ground, top level with the soil, and poured about half an inch of beer in.

mct1

We don't deliberately kill living creatures but we don't want them eating all our crops either. So we have attached copper tape to strips of landfill liner and placed them round the veg beds. Then we go out every night and pick off all the culprits that are in the forbidden zone and transfer them to the compost bin (where hopefully they will be happy). I smear vaseline round the top of pots - it lasts ages and works a treat.

franksm

My vote's for the beer-trap too - we were inundated recently with tiny slugs at the front of the house (sometimes we leave cat-food out for the moggy, and that attracts the slugs).

Beer-trap in place, it attracted (as far as I can see) *all* of the slugs at the front of my house over the period of a week. No more sign of them ! Amazing.

Alun

What kind of beer works best do you find? I've found most lager type beers don't really seem to attract them .. maybe it's not sweet enough? I've used real-ale beer slops from the local pub when I lived in the UK before and that would attract them from miles around.

bmaxi

franksm wrote:

My vote's for the beer-trap too - we were inundated recently with tiny slugs at the front of the house (sometimes we leave cat-food out for the moggy, and that attracts the slugs).

Beer-trap in place, it attracted (as far as I can see) *all* of the slugs at the front of my house over the period of a week. No more sign of them ! Amazing.

Well just think about it. That's a lot of funerals to go to and you've given them the taste for beer, wait 'til the hangover is gone and they come looking for revenge.

littlebug

I put my traps out last night... they're not beer traps.. shop bought jobbies with an "attractant" in them which I presume I could just replace with beer when it's done. How many slugs did I get. not one! hmm.. I think they're getting clever and just waiting for me to plant my hostas!

magicbastarder

i found heineken worked fine.
you could get a hedgehog...

sean_0

AFAIK, it's the yeast they're interested in, not the beer itself, which is why the real ale slops probably worked best for you. I'd imagine if you put some sugar solution in a plastic bottle with a sachet of dried bakers yeast (maybe add a drop of lemon juice), then the resulting alcoholic beverage after a week would be perfect for the job - and cheap! I wouldn't drink it though.

old boy

old country trick, water your veg with salted water, buggers hate it,

artieanna

old boy wrote:

old country trick, water your veg with salted water, buggers hate it,

mmm interesting one...

I find with lettuce and cabbage that if you sprinkle lime (builders hydrate of lime) in between plants (don't touch the plants with the lime) this will ward off snails and slugs they won't go near it.

If you're lettuce is sown in a line sprinkle lime all around it and slugs will not cross the lime, it may need to be applicated twice or three times if there is heavy rain. It will work....

Lime will burn and scorch the plants if you put it on them

jondanie

I once used a nicotine trap, same principle as the beer trap. If you're a smoker, save your old fag butts for a few days and then soak them for a day in a jam jar of warm water. Then remove the fag butts and place your trap in the desired position.

It worked! I think slug pellets, beer traps or even salt lines are better

TOm Kelly

OK - i have lettuce and cabbage planted beside each other ... the cabbage plans are being devestated by the night - the lettuce remains untouched - have slug pellets down and went out at night and physically removed some ..

the cabbage plants look like they have been 'chomped' - you can almost see the teeth marks of the little b******s - could this be slugs / snails - I get quite a few of those snails in shells on my rounds.

TOm Kelly

I have been advised that I may have been the subject of an attack from the air --- I had been assuming that my enemies were land-based --

so maybe it was birds - I have put up a bit of netting cover ... one question - should I chop off the remains of the leaves that have been chomped or will they grow out again? Thanks.

magicbastarder

i was finding chunks taken out of my alpine strawberry plants, and never could find any slugs among them, day or night.
then one day i was out the back, and saw a wasp land on the plant, chop a nice half moon shape out of one of the leaves, and fly away with it.

bmaxi

TOm Kelly wrote:

I have been advised that I may have been the subject of an attack from the air --- I had been assuming that my enemies were land-based --

so maybe it was birds - I have put up a bit of netting cover ... one question - should I chop off the remains of the leaves that have been chomped or will they grow out again? Thanks.

Yes pigeons in particular can be a right pain, netting is the best option. I would leave the leaves on, as the plant can still use them to photosynthesize and cut them off when new growth appears.

magicbastarder wrote:

i was finding chunks taken out of my alpine strawberry plants, and never could find any slugs among them, day or night.
then one day i was out the back, and saw a wasp land on the plant, chop a nice half moon shape out of one of the leaves, and fly away with it.

What you saw was probably a leafcutter bee, they use the pieces of leaf as a sort of pod to lay their eggs in but rarely cause any damage (apart from aesthetic) to the plant.

TOm Kelly

bmaxi wrote:

Yes pigeons in particular can be a right pain, netting is the best option. I would leave the leaves on, as the plant can still use them to photosynthesize and cut them off when new growth appears.QUOTE]

Thanks bmaxi - I'm glad you said that about the leaves / half leaves and photosynthesis - I was thinking that they would be just using up growth energy - I will leave them alone for now.

Yes, I have seen one or two of those grey pigeon types lurking around - it must have been them ...

errr ... anybody got the loan of a shotgun for the weekend?

TOm Kelly

... cabbage making progress now ... netting appears to have worked ...

.... and an incredible shot by Yours Truly - when I nailed a pigeon with a frying pan from 22 yards ...

and luckily, the old dear next door, who is a member of the ISPCA was at Mass at the time ... The Lord works in mysterious ways ...