Eggshell experiment - in progress

[dave45]

Somewhere I read that broken eggshells are a slug deterrent, so for the last year or so I have been saving washed eggshells in aluminium takeaway containers, shoving them in the bottom of the oven to bake, then crumbling them into a cornflake box to save.

Now its time to plant out seedlings I am sprinkling the eggshells around the plants to see if Mr Slug is deterred.

It seems not Several lettuces have been munched despite the eggshell ring of confidence.

BUT... perhaps it depends on the size of the eggshell pieces (think sandpaper grades) and density/volume of eggshells.

BUT2... watering the seedlings tends to disrupt the defences.

Its nice to feel useful saving eggshells (a very interesting raw material!) but am I wasting my time?

[pelmetman]

Hi Dave

We tried this last year as we are plagued with snails and slugs. It didn't work, they still ate our precious seedlings. The only thing I have found that works is the copper bands, but of course this is only successful with things growing in pots.

It rained here yesterday so last night I was out on a snail and slug hunt. Slipped over, dropped the bucket with all the slugs and snails in, feeling rather bruised this morning. I hate the little b....s
Sue

[Odsox]

We save all our egg shells, bake them like you Dave ... there is always a tray in the bottom of the oven, then run them through an old mincer.
I don't do it to deter slugs but it gets used as a soil improver and for the calcium in my slightly acid soil.

Best deterrent I've found for slugs that is almost 100% effective are copper rings, but these are only useful for single plants, in my case cabbages and cauliflowers. I make them from old hot water cylinders, but last year I ripped out my central heating and have a large quantity of 1/2" copper pipe that I'm going to fix to the boards surrounding my deep beds.

[Green Aura]

A few years ago Alan Titchmarsh did an experiment. He put a sunflower (slug magnet extraordinaire ) in the middle and put piles of eggshells and other household and proprietary slug stoppers. None worked. I agree with Tony, the only thing that works with any great confidence is copper tape.

I just googled "uses for eggshells" and this was first on the list

http://www.helium.com/items/641761-unco ... -eggshells

Maybe I'l have to stop just chucking them in the bokashi bin

[SaveSomeGreen]

I have tried the eggshells and it is certainly true that they are ok, but you need to have a fairly large ring of shells there constantly.

Watering as mentioned disrupts this. I have had a reasonable amount of success with using my old soapnuts after washing with them. The mashed up shells spread around seems to work quite well.

Going down the extra smart way this year, cleaning up the garden as much as I can to take away the places the slugs can hide and then my newly established pond with shed loads of little tadders in there should provide me with a eco army of slug munchers to murderise the little buggers.

Other plus sides to this are that frogs and all things amphibian are in decline due to loss of habitat and by helping them we are being extra green all the way through, hoping to get some dragon flies too (they munch wasps, saving my soft fruit too.

oh and hedgehog houses to encourage them in will help too.

Does that help?

[grahamhobbs]

If you have slugs, there is nothing that is going to stop them going for your tenderest morsel.

As Savesomegreen indicated you have to make your garden unattractive to slugs. You do not find slugs in a desert. Unfortunately that is what you have to make your garden appear to them, no shady, moist corner, no long grass and no weeds. With alternative, permaculture tendencies, it took me a long time to learn the 'short back and sides' of the old boys wasn't just because they had been in the army.

Keeping your grass well mown and the edges trim is time well spent not allowing slugs to hide in the grass. Keeping your vegetables in straight lines makes it easy to see anything amiss, weeds coming up, etc, and also easier to deal with.

Wherever possible don't sow or put out young seedlings but bring them on in modules and pots until they are sufficiently big enough and harden them off, so not to be attractive to slugs.

Oh and don't try to grow anything attractive to slugs any where near your compost heap.

[battybird]

Our ducks were great in eating all the slugs, unfortunately they also ate some of the seedlings and trampled on others! so maybe follow earlier advice!!

[frozenthunderbolt]

oh and hedgehog houses to encourage them in will help too.

Does that help?

Hodgehegs will also eat ALL you mushrooms

[SaveSomeGreen]

Will they... bugger that... I love my mushrooms, didn't know that hedgehogs did too..

That said not many people grow them... mushrooms that is

[citizentwiglet]

I found that planting French marigolds around my salad crops acted as sacrificial protection - the slugs were too stuffed on the flowers to bother with my salad. You do need a pretty constant supply of marigolds, though, as the buggers will strip them to nothing overnight. Failing that, the utterly un-buddhist method of torch and scissors to cut the sods in half works......particularly if you place remnants of dead slug on twiggy sticks to deter their mates......

[dave45]

There are frogs in my garden and even one in residence in the greenhouse (I have no pond)... so they aren't particularly scarce round here... they give you a bit of a fright when you disturb them and they jump away. However they don't seem to have much effect on the slugs..

One idea I had is to put a tea-tray size lump of scrap plywood on the ground.. and turn it over every few days.... then stomp on the buggers. I have found that even the chickens won't eat them.

I suppose the eggshell idea does no harm so I'll continue anyway :-)

[dave45]

That said not many people grow them... mushrooms that is

Well I have tried several times and utterly failed - what is the secret?

[frozenthunderbolt]

That said not many people grow them... mushrooms that is

Well I have tried several times and utterly failed - what is the secret?

Warmth, moisture, an appropriate substrate and a complete lack of H.H.

[Keaniebean]

Failing that, the utterly un-buddhist method of torch and scissors to cut the sods in half works......particularly if you place remnants of dead slug on twiggy sticks to deter their mates......

Hooray, I thought I was the only one wicked enough to do that.