Topic: slugs..it's official

[cornykev]

I think slugs doubling is the understatment of the year x10 more like and the size of some of them they are like speed humps. When I go to work in the morning slugs and snails are all over the pavement even nibbling at the weeds growing in between the paving stones so at least theres not enough veg to go round.  ;D ;D ;D

[ellkebe]

From the BBC news website today!!
Is the UK facing a slug plague?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6958259.stm

Interesting article -  I've certainly lost far more veg than I've harvested this year  :(

[saddad]

But can you walk past them without stamping on them?
 ;D

[ellkebe]

I've always wanted to stamp on them when walking past, not just this year  :)

[Busby]

Slugs develop from the eggs laid last year. So, theoretically, there should be no more slugs because the weather is bad than in sunny summers.
Naturally rainy weather brings them all out and they then get everywhere.

So here's a couple of tips:

Towards winter lift everything lying around in the garden and destroy all those white egg packets sheltering so happily under stones, wood, plants, compost, pots, etc.

When they attack, let them. That is don't furiously pull out the lettuce which you've just seen half-eaten, but throw some pellets under the nearest bunch of plants to the lettuce bed. Leave the half-eaten lettuce - just in case - and add pellets onto the path around the lettuce bed.

In dry weather throw small quantities of pellets into seemingly harmless planted corners and just walk away.

I do all this and have hardly any slugs anymore.

[cambourne7]

What I dont understand is why the slugs/snails have left my salad and lettuce alone and why they have gone for everything else!!

In fact the major problem i have is with catapillers!!

[redimp]

Slugs develop from the eggs laid last year. So, theoretically, there should be no more slugs because the weather is bad than in sunny summers.
Naturally rainy weather brings them all out and they then get everywhere.

It is the unnaturally warm winters that have led to the population explosion but then again as I do not want to alter my lifestyle in anyway and wish to continue conspicuously consuming and to hell with the future cos I'll be dead so what do I care, I am going to deny that (human accelerated) climate change has anything to do with it.

[Eristic]

[quoteTowards winter lift everything lying around in the garden and destroy all those white egg packets sheltering so happily under stones, wood, plants, compost, pots, etc.][/quote]

Whilst this is good practice, it will do nothing to stem the tide of slugs migrating onto the plot. On warm wet evenings there can be between 10 and 30 slugs crossing the roadway to my plot for every linear metre. Take it from me, it does not matter how thoroughly your plot is cleansed, they will be back tomorrow in similar numbers.

By living for today for the past few decades we've eradicated all the predators and upset natures balance. Now we pay.

[grawrc]

I don't seem to have too many more slugs, but those I do have are all about 3 or 4 inches long. Quite disgusting really. And we can't walk for snails.

[MPG]

Yes totally disgusting, although i don't have my lotty yet :( we have noticed we have an armada of slugs which move in waves over the garden,they even get in the rabbit hutches, in the house,garage, ok when you see them lol but its when you nip out to the garage in bare foot and get a slug squash up between your toes now that is disgusting. :) and we have alot more slugs than 10 or 20. mpg

[Amazin]

I've noticed far more of those big fat orange-red ones than any other type.

[jjt]

Those big fat ones [proper name Large Black Slug-honest] don't do too much harm. It's the little brown and black ones what want tracking down and dealing with.

[Larkspur]

What I dont understand is why the slugs/snails have left my salad and lettuce alone and why they have gone for everything else!!

In fact the major problem i have is with catapillers!!

Yep I have exactly the same situation. They seem to have gone for everything except the salads and the damage they have done to my lilies and dahlias is unbelievable.

[Amazin]

Spot on, Cam7, as I think we discussed at the start of the season - and nothing has changed!

[miniroots]

We need government-subsidised nematodes!

I've heard that the black ones eat the other ones, and that they are quite territorial, so if you throw them over a fence they come back - but likewise if you kill all of yours, you don't get instantly swamped with neighbouring slugs...

I was going to wait til spring before getting some nematodes - but as they are laying now I might get some straight away...

[Eristic]

if you kill all of yours, you don't get instantly swamped with neighbouring slugs...

I'm afraid that this is a myth and they migrate in at an alarming rate if there is a quality food source. I believe that they are driven purely by scent, (from the plants and each other) to distribute themselves according to the available resources. Just as a good Cafe is always crowded, the choice pickings of an allotment will always be preferable to grass and therefore pulls a crowd.

As for the big fat ones not eating veg, that is also a myth. They eat six times as much as the small ones. A number of slugs do eat each other but usually only after they have been accidentally stood on. These carnivorous ones will still eat the veg so as far as food production goes, the only good slug is a dead slug.

[cocopops]

I am amazed by the lack of slugs we have had here in Brittany.  In the UK, in a slightly mad time of my life, I had an outdoor loo.  I forever had my foot in the sink washing off slug slime :-X

We do have snails which are easy to spot, and for some reason my seven year old daughter loves them, and will quite happily pick them off and throw them into the overgrowth.  Our neighbour gave us loads of her veggies, including two lovely lettuce which had a small slug within it.  It was please mummy don't kill it.  She is such a softie it ended up on the compost heap.  Best not to tell her she has eaten frog's legs for lunch at school, she said it was delicious and tasted like saly fish. :-X

[Smileyk]

Me nematodes have been beaten by the slugs this year.  I wouldn't mind so much but I've had very few slugs for years (just LOTS of snails) and this year I've still got the snails but I've also got monster slugs.  Which swine has been breeding them and letting them into my garden!?   ::)