Topic: another carrot question

[clackvalve]

Hi again,
            I have got my carrots in, i have read about covering them with fleece but i wanted to know whether there is any cheaper way of keeping the slugs away rather than using slug pellets.

My Grandfather used to use soot from the chimney to put round a lot of his veg to keep slugs away.would it work if i used the fine remains of a bonfire?

Thanks again

Ade

[dtw]

The fleece is for keeping away carrot fly, dunno about using ash though, surely it would wash away after a light shower.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Soot's full of nasty hydrocarbons and stuff which condense out of smoke. Ash is quite different.

[tim_n]

removing slugs has I think been done to death.

'no chemical' method (that is, no chemical in the soil)

- go down with a torch and pick off by hand.  Best way involves getting your kids if you have any to pick them and pay per slimy body
- sprinkle oats around plants, they prefer oats and get fat/dehydrated
- beer traps (that's plastic pots buried into the ground, an inch or so protuding so beetles don't fall in and filled with beer)
- nematodes (expensive)
- add ducks to your veg patch

Tips:

- Water during morning (not night)
- dispatch any you find or relocate to compost heap
- build a pond and attract frogs/toads
- get a hedgehog nesting box and cross fingers for a hedgehog (they'll absolutely destroy the slug population)

[caroline7758]

I may be wrong, but I don't think slugs are a particular problem with carrots. They prefer bigger-leaved stuff like cabbages.

[saddad]

They can totally slime (pun intended) a row of emerging seedlings and can damage roots left in the ground over winter....

[cornykev]

I'm with Caroline.  ;D ;D ;D

[Eristic]

Slugs are so much of a problem on my site that I am unable to sow carrot or beet seed direct in the open ground. Carrots I grow in buckets and beet get transplanted out when they have reached a decent size.

[Digeroo]

My slug love a nice carrot.  Have you tried coffee grounds?  There is a new organic slug pellet, but it is still a poison if only for slugs so I am not sure I am very keen on it.