Selfsufficientish.com

66. Wishfull thinking.

I recently got an allotment, and I've noticed LOADS! of slugs and snails. Last weekend, I threw into a bucketful of water many that I found, put the bucket on a wooden platform, sprinkled some salt around the bucket, so mo escape for the slimies, as I call them.
Could this count as 67?

Oh, I've also shovelled them (too slimy to touch - aaaiiii!) and thrown them next door (unoccupied lottie at the moment). They probably came back to mine though

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I purchased with doubt of course a packet of some white stuff called nematodes. you mix it with a bucket o water and pour liberally. I used copper tape on my strawberry bucket and on the woodden border around the veggie patch. VIOLA! Not a slug to be seen! Brilliant! And they don't hurt the environment and are not poisionous to children or pets of any kind.

I have had a few snails mind. At first I thought the feeling of flying might teach em a lesson but that didn't seem very nice, so I thought about the squashing method, seemed too cruel. Then I found a very nice idea. Since the council has raised our rates again, I thought if I put these lovely creatures into the bin the council could happily pay for their holiday to the local land fill, where of course there will be PLENTY for the snails to eat.

What could be better, free transport, nice holiday, plenty of free food, wide spaces to roam freely and I don't have to feel badly about killing anything! Everyone is happy!

I have the biggest radishes you have ever seen, my lettuce and spinish are simply delish!

Andy Hamilton wrote:Slug eggs are like little white ball bearings. Whenever I do a bit of digging on my allotment I tend to find some, easily crushed between fingers. Would need too many to become an omlette, perhaps you could have pickled slug eggs as a starter.

Oh, so that's what those little things were I found all over the strawberry patch yesterday Explains a thing or two. I was fervently hoping they were oeufs of something useful like ladybirds or, or, something.

We have an absolutely epic slug problem at our new house, so we've ordered nematodes. We have 3/4 of an acre so that would be a firk of a lot of eggshells or beer

Oh oh oh, I've just seen I've got a Margot, that is so perfect!!

I have done a comprehensive study of slug methods this year having fed them several whole seed packets of lettuce and herbs.
With all this rain salt was pointless, they happily crawled over carpet (including my bathroom), paper, sand, grit, sharp stuff liek egg shells, copper wire (but that did put them off a bit)

I stopped planting anything out and put vaseline around my pots, only slowed the down a bit, then in combination with vaseline, copper wire and stading them on a suspended grid with jeys fluid spray underneath... I hit on gold: Wire wool. I stand my pots on wire wool and they really won't crawl over that.

So much lettuce since!!

Hi. We used nemetodes and they worked fantastically well and very quickly. We had slugs carpeting the grass, back step, conservatory floor etc, they were just gross, but the nemetodes sorted them our toot-sweet. I'd definitely use them again if we had another infestation.

Good tip for all you organic types..I always put a good linning of soot in my trenches before i plant my potatoes 2 to 3 inches of soot is ideal,dont bother weathering it,the more caustic the better,just drop your chitted potatoes straight into it...Slugs hate it...Incorporate more soot when you earth up,and as an asside dust the tops with soot about once a fortnight while theres a risk of blight about ,this also keeps blight away..Soot also keeps wire worms and other nasties at bay too...Try some next year and you can look forward to a nice healthy clean crop of organic spuds..MMmmmm..Oh and because a typical sample of soot contains between 3 to 6% percent of nitrogen just watch those tops green up and rocket away...

45. Pick them off with chopsticks (sorry I still don't like touching them), put 'em in a tub, then dump 'em.

46. Are they too slow to race?

Sotty is that coal soot orwood ash (Or have I just answerd my own question?!)

or wood soot?

As far as I know, coal 'dust' or ash is too acidic to even add too compost, so I don't fancy it's chances under potatoes (even if it is soot) But wood ash is aparently fantastic for everything (I have yet to have a wood-ash based growing season) the way some people talk it has magical properties.

So... I'd imagine that soot from your chimney, if you only burn wood, would be as good as the ashes.

?

On our new allotment the previous 'owner' was one of the stewards who had it as a second plot. He has left us a bag of soot which he told us we need to spread in January. I didn't like to cross examine him, just thanked him and said I would.

I shall have to ask him what sort of soot it is, he burns alot of old stuff down the allotment which is dead plants/weeds and old wood, but I would have called that ash. Got me thinking...

Slugs love "bran"..!!! If you spread little piles of dry bran where there's slug activity,the slugs find it irresistable,eat it,swell up and,well not to put too fine a point on it,thats one slug less...If the bran gets wet the slugs still gorge themselves on it in preference to your precious crops,only trouble is sometimes they have room for dessert,which in my case can be strawberrys..lol..
Bran is cheap as chips,and lasts for ages... Give it a go!!!

Beer traps then compost. The Final Solution. I have no anger. TeeHee!

Next to my little plastic greenhouse is a pot with a solution of highly salted water. I go out on snail patrol first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

There are a lot of snails out there mourning their mates who came into my garden and never returned...scoff my seedlings, feel my anger...

Hello, I am new here ...... had such a good laugh reading those suggestions, that I had to register to post. I have bought some organic slug pellets btw, which are great (but only when it is not raining ) ...

However, for a nice evening hobby:

Find a nice stick and a long nail, attach the nail to the end of the stick, leaving enough nail at the end. Wait until evening, and pretend you are a speerhunter extraordinaire

Good fun, but don't get your face very close, they do splatter a lot (as mentioned during the slug and brick method).