Slugs and Spuds

Sgt Pepper 64

I'm fighting a nightly war with slugs in my spud bags.
Do they actually eat the spuds themselves or just the leaves so the spuds dont get the nutrients and grow?

A2LUE42

get the slug traps that you put beer in.

redser7

They'll go after the spuds too. It's common enough to dig up spuds with slug damage, you eat those up first as they wont store. Some people put a few slug pellets in the trench or bag/pot.

amandstu

They will eat through the base of the stem and so will do much more damage than you would think.

It is a bit like a beaver chopping down a tree ,unfortunately -except that they don't go all the way round (more like a zombie attack).

All the leaves above where the (biggish )slug has been is lost very quickly even if ithey hasn't been attacked directly.

I go around with a sharp pair of scissors as soon as they venture out in the evening and I would also use a few pellets as they never stop coming.

Phegasus

Go to the beach and collect the seaweed that is not attached to rocks etc. Give it a rinse and use it to border your spud bags or growing area. It should deter slugs efficiently and organically. Fresh ground coffee or bean will also do the job but obv more expensive

evolving_doors

I ve used beer traps and found them pretty good but reckoned in end they were attracting slugs left right and centre to the area.. Now it's just murder at dusk with a spade. Also put down (or remove!) planks and plastic pots in the area as they like to hide there..

You can buy nematodes online that are parasites to the slugs but dont know if they are effective

amandstu

Has anyone got a technique for removing slugs from lettuces and cabbages etc once they have set up home inside the leaves (I mean persuading them to move somewhere else so they can be attacked in the open - a bit like our Snowden friend)

Pellets or trapping or bayoneting seem to be of no use once they are safely ensconced in the plant itself .

Trying to take them out manually is impossible as you have to take the plant apart in the process.

If you are preparing the lettuce (or spinach) in the kitchen you can soak the leaves in salty water and the slugs lift off but you can't do that when the plants are still growing.

Sgt Pepper 64

amandstu wrote: »

Has anyone got a technique for removing slugs from lettuces and cabbages etc once they have set up home inside the leaves (I mean persuading them to move somewhere else so they can be attacked in the open - a bit like our Snowden friend)

Pellets or trapping or bayoneting seem to be of no use once they are safely ensconced in the plant itself .

Trying to take them out manually is impossible as you have to take the plant apart in the process.

If you are preparing the lettuce (or spinach) in the kitchen you can soak the leaves in salty water and the slugs lift off but you can't do that when the plants are still growing.

Spraying with washing up liquid?

amandstu

Do you have any reason to think that it might work?

I know you can use it as an additive to make other stuff stick onto the leaves as well as to kill greenfly but would slugs dislike it enough to vacate the premises ?

No objection to trying it though -although it might be difficult to remove the taste from lettuce leaves (you could wait a week or so before harvesting I suppose )

powerstation

I've just discovered this forum, and am so glad to see a slug extermination thread!

I find slugs icky and am averse to the thought of going too close to impale them, let alone cleaning up a choked beer trap - I'd like a remote method that's also effective.

I've read spraying slugs with a 1:10 ratio of diluted ammonia works. We have nothing planted in our garden as yet so I am considering going around the garden with a trigger sprayer...

Has anyone tried this and did you have any success?

shawnee

If you are prepared to go around and spray them or add a little salt they will die very quickly. However it is a slow task as the small little ones often do damage and it is hard to see these guys . Easy to see the guys with the mobile homes..:P

amandstu

At the moment I am experimenting with the ferric phosphate-with mixed results.

My latest (perennial) idea is to go out when the slugs are active and kill them on the spot with a sharp pair of scissors.

I have noticed that other slugs turn up invariably to feed on the corpses ans are easily killed maybe 3 or 4 at a time.
I wondered if this could be taken advantage of somehow ( a bit like the Egyptian man who asked for one grain of wheat on the first square of the chessboard )

Sadly it hasn't been a panacea but my new idea is to throw down a few pellets of ferric phosphate at the crime scene in the hope that I could poison the whole extended family.

As I have only just started this I don't have results in -although pessimism is the order of the day when it comes to slugs.

I do find it helpful to keep the ground around the vegetable patches as bare as possible and I also leave pieces of timber (old planks) around strategically placed so as to uncover the overnight campers the following day.

qzy

Nematodes work well and will get to the Keel Slugs that attack spuds under the soil - they are expensive though and need to be reapplied every 6 weeks or so. Beer traps work well - remember to leave in a stick so beetles and insects can get out. Slugs seem to love the white part of Grapefruit skin so put some down and they will gather under it overnight - dispose of them the next morning. However, in our climate the slug will always win :rolleyes:.

Gautama

Salt works a dream.

powerstation

I noticed a number of birds visited my garden after I cut the grass yesterday, and a subsequent fall in slugs that evening. I'll keep the grass trimmed to around 2-3 cm to make the slugs easy prey. The mobile home slugs appear are tough nuts for the birds to crack!

I also aerial bombed a slug with a handful of sea salt which was immediately effective. I'll be going around the garden with a concentrated salt solution this weekend.

Slugs are apparently sensitive to small electrical discharges from exposed copper strips, so when I do plant a vegetable bed, it will be fenced off with rings of exposed copper cable hooked up to a 9v battery. A bit like keeping zombies out of the camp!

amandstu, some good tips there. btw, the protagonist in the grain and chessboard fable was an Indian mathematician.

Francie Barrett

powerstation wrote: »

Slugs are apparently sensitive to small electrical discharges from exposed copper strips, so when I do plant a vegetable bed, it will be fenced off with rings of exposed copper cable hooked up to a 9v battery. A bit like keeping zombies out of the camp!

amandstu, some good tips there. btw, the protagonist in the grain and chessboard fable was an Indian mathematician.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtdCBWeL4SQ

amandstu

Loved that ! But surely that setup would short /drain the battery whenever (=always) it rained (I don't have a Phd in Physics)

Wouldn't the damp wood form a contact between the wires unless the wires were set in an insulated channel?

powerstation

Great video! This is very similar to what I had in mind.

amandstu, if there is a water bridge across the wires, electrolysis would take place releasing hydrogen & oxygen gas. The gas bubbles released by this process would eventually break the bridge. I guess a consistent shower would drain the battery faster.

amandstu

Would it lower the voltage being applied to the slug (or should I be asking if it would lesson the current ? -I think the voltage doesn't change)

If it was just damp weather without any real precipitation -days when the ground doesn't actually dry at all for 24 hours or more out or those awful blight conditions near the west coast- would that drain the battery pretty sharpish?

And does it go without saying that any slug that died straddling the wires would have the same effect?

powerstation

Yes, the battery would loose some charge when the slug ambles across the wires, as current flows through the slugs body. There would be a drop in voltage when the circuit is completed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm%27s_law

In wet conditions, I guess the rate at which the battery drains would depend upon the wetness of the wood over which the wires are run. I guess the best way to find out is to conduct a simple experiment.

redser7

But the buggers dont just come in from the sides. They come up from below too.
Sow extra seeds and allow for losses works.

amandstu

Has anyone tried to take advantage of the fact that they are said to follow each other along their slime trails ?

I mean if one of them finds a particular plant then a convoy of them will arrive on its heels so that the plant in question is supposed to turn into a kind of picnic table.

Whenever I find a plant that has had its first slug visit I am tempted to ,after removing the beast, disturb the soil around the plant ( a bit like the Lone Ranger diverting his horse into a river to evade pursuers) .

In my favour I have hardly ever done this as it seems unlikely to actually work but on the other hand I cannot say I have ever tested it out properly.

The plants that are most vulnerable at the moment (even in this weather) are my young runner beans which are obviously absolutely delicious to slugs.

Once they get a size then I stop worrying but when small they can be set right back very easily.

Last year,for safety, I grew them all together in their own little seed bed (in pots actually) and only planted them in their proper place when they had grown a foot or so but this year ,emboldened by the availability of the organically approved ferric phosphate pellets I just panted them straight into the soil (they will be fine but there were few losses and some are way ahead of the others.

redser7

They go crazy for comfrey and I've read that some people leave little heaps around to attract them. They also love allbran

amandstu

If you try to attract them is it important to kill them the regularly or the morning after?

Do you have to attract them to areas quite far from the plants you are tring to protect?

redser7

Well that's the idea. Get them into one place so you can conveniently dispatch them. Maybe put the bait under something like some wood or upturned scooped out orange or grapefruit halves.

Tulipout

Would slug pellets not be the best job for these slow little f**kers?

amandstu

Have you tried them?

I wouldn't be surprised if you had to do a bit more than just put down pellets.

The ones I use (ferris phosphate) say not to use more than 3 applications over the course of the plants growth.

I don't know why that should be but in any case extra application equals extra cost (metaldehyde is cheaper but not everyone likes using them).

If you are on the West coast I suspect that the slug problem is far worse than in the dryer parts of the island.