Greetings from Sunny Bradford on Avon

[Muddypause]

I seem to be having good luck with crushed up egg shells around my lettuce and radishes this year. So far I've found one snail nibbling a radish - last year I lost nearly all my lettuces, but they're doing well this year.

You have to keep adding new shell, because it keeps disappearing (worms, I suppose), but so far my diet of an egg for breakfast every morning is doing the trick. They crush up more easily if you microwave them for a minute or two, or just leave them to dry out for a day or so. I usually wait until I've got half a dozen shells to do at once.

[wulf]

How small do you crush them? I've found that the pile of shell pieces (crushed by hand) that I've built up over the last few months has been ineffective at protecting my morning glory (Ipomoea) plants

Perhaps you're grinding them much smaller (or perhaps my slugs and snails are harder than yours ;) )?

Wulf

[Andy Hamilton]

I find that crushed egg shells/pastachio nut shells work a little on their own. However I also have a pond, put down the odd beer trap, dispose of all that I find and put down oatmeal. I still get slugs, but I hate to think how many I would get if I did nothing.

[Muddypause]

How small do you crush them?

I do crush them quite small - I think the theory is that slugs don't like gritty stuff, and egg shell is probably quite sharp, too. The finished particle size prolly ranges from 1 - 5 mm.

[Lyds]

Hi, I too am so aware of slugs I dont think we need an awareness week. My husband came in beaming last week and presented me with a box of Slug Stoppa (they can't spell) which I am trying out. It is a gritty substance that you scatter around your nice green tender juicy seedlings. The only problem is that here in sunny Devon it has been raining torrents for days so alot of the stuff has got washed away. Looks like I will be sneaking around in the half light with a sharp knife again.

I'm not really happy about slug pellets because of the food chain, I know the makers say they are safe but I'm not sure. We have alot of Toads (not enough to consume all the slugs) and I would hate to poison a Toad.

Also we are aiming to keep a few hens and I would rather the ground stayed clear of any chemicals. I might try the beer trick though. How much do they drink!!!

[Tracey Smith]

Hi all and Hello Shiney!

Am back in the hot seat and ploughing through the mail. I will let you all know how National Downshifting Week went once I have replied to all my notes, but here's a clue

Slugs - here's my thoughts.

If possible and if you have chickens, consider putting their run around your veggie patch, so they act as a kind of Munching Security Guard. Very effective and a great natural way of dealing with the critters.

Or, consider a little initial hard work with my second idea, but one that will benefit your back too.

Raise your growing beds a foot or two using either rough logs or planks (the rougher and more jagged the better). By 'raising the stakes', you eliminate problems from other critters like moles etc as well (a problem where I live). You could place a mesh at the bottom of the raised bed to give it an extra barrier against them getting in and eating the fruits of your labours. Then at the base of the bed, which has now turned into a 'feature' lavishly sprinkle coarse, sharp sand or sharp gravel - they don't like that at all. If you put another short log in front of this area, it will keep the stones in place too, preventing them being washed away in rain. It need not be more than a foot or so in width from the raised bed, but will give it an attractive border, with a great natural solution to the problem of slugs and snails.

[shiney]

I reckon with all this feedback I am ready to put a Slug Retaliation Book together. I mean, are they any use to anyone? Apart from birds?

Thanks for all your hellos, welcomes and help!

[wulf]

Last night, I wore a pair of rugged gardening gloves on one of my regular slugging expeditions. Along with a sharp knife and a head mounted torch, this worked really well - much easier to to pick out gastropods hiding in the dropping leaves of early spring bulbs and eyeing up my crops, as the gloves get over the unpleasantness of picking the things up!

Why didn't I think of it before!

Wulf

[shiney]

I think I may go on slug patrol tonight, it's quite easy in my back yard, cos I have a security light near one of my slug havens. It's probably the easiest way of getting shot of them.

Good idea Wulf!

[wulf]

I forgot to mention the other big benefit of wearing gloves. Now that I've got a barrier on my hands to help me get over the squeamishness of actually touching a slug, I'm able to run my hands over the plants and move foliage around to spot the critters.

Especially in the herb garden, that has the ancillary benefit of releasing beautiful scents, as I move from mint to thyme to rosemary, etc!

Wulf

[Andy Hamilton]

I decided to do a little google about killing slugs and came up with this .......

The feasibility of coagulating the tissue of slug eggs using microwaves will be tested using an apparatus similar to a microwave oven, but with radiation directed to the soil. Batches of D. reticulatum eggs will be placed under leaves on the soil surface and at different depths, from 1 to 15 cm, in soil of different types with a range of soil temperatures, percentage-moisture and organic-matter contents. Eggs will be exposed to microwaves in this way for 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds. The device used to produce microwaves will be placed 30 cm above the trial surface and will produce microwaves at 2450 MHz, with a power output of 800, 600 or 400 W. After exposure to microwaves, boxes of soil containing eggs will be incubated at 18oC, the optimum temperature for development of this species, and 12 h daylength.
http://www.slugcontrol.rothamsted.ac.uk ... thods.html


... pretty hi tech way of getting rid of the little blighters.

[Wombat]

Far out! I can just see myself wandering around the garden with a long extension cord, carrying the microwave with the door open

Perhaps not..........

Nev

[Spen]

Linda (my wife) tells me that she was once advised that one way to deal with your slug problem is to mow your lawn at night. You get your lawn done and the slugs are removed at the same time :)

This could be a subject of a new film to be shown in Slug Cinemas.... something about a Mowerblade Massacre.....

Spence

[shiney]

Like the idea, but I guess the neighbours wouldn't be very happy.

Oh the thought of Slug Cinemas. I guess you could catch them as they are returning home after being to the flicks!

[wulf]

... or just switch the salty and sweet popcorn!

Wulf