courgettes, raised beds and the enemy .....SLUGS

[baz621]

Hi all, i have had a nightmare with my courgettes, and squashes being obliterated by slugs.....arrgghhh
first i tried agricultural grit, they kept coming... then an organic slug stop which is like white granules ( £8.50 a pack!!)...they kept coming..... they had destroyed 4 courgettes, 2 butternut squash and 2 pumpkins on inspection this morning after heavy rain, i could have cried...straight down to the garden centre, where i got an extra large pot of slug pellets ( organic) think if the g/f had not been with me i would have got the chemical no hold barred slug pellets!!!
Anyway i got three 6 foot gravel boards cut 1 in half and made a 6 x 3 raised bed, which are 6 inches high, i put cardboard on the ground, soaked it, then filled the raised bed up with organic manure,organic compost and year old allotment compost, my question is, i was thinking of putting my last 5 courgettes and 2 cucumbers in the raised bed, but was kinda thinking i have only, 6 inches of depth, before the cardboard, and is this deep enough for the roots for the courgettes and cues, or will they just go through the cardboard deeper into the soil underneath, i was kinda thinking they may be safer in the raised bed-oh i hate them, may need to start night trips with a sharp stick

[baz621]

[saddad]

Can't go far wrong with a torch and a boot...
despite the bad press I'd use a nematode on the bed itself...
then a sowing of lettuce or something tender to see if the problem is under control...  :-\

[chriscross1966]

THese are the sort of conditions the nematodes thrive in, I thoroughly expect them to make a full life cycle in my potato patch and at that point the soil there will be a minefield for slugs for the rest of the summer....

[Crystalmoon]

Hiya, could you put the copper stick on tape around the boards of the raised bed? Only my pots with copper tape on have survived slug attack this year. There has been so much rain I have even had slugs sitting at the top of my back door :o
At my allotment when it is as wet as it has been lately slug pellets just don't work effectively so I tend to put down a nice slug hotel - large sheet of thick cardboard - I then go down in the morning & turn it over & cut the slugs in half with scissors! You dont have to touch them as they stick to the card when you turn it over so you can just snip through them. The birds clear up the mess. A piece of wood is even better as it wont get soggy & difficult to turn over.
Jane

[louise stella]

As for planting on top of the cardboard.........go ahead - they'll love it!  This is how I cleared my beds years ago!  The courgettes were the best crop i've ever had!

[martin godliman]

Baz you don't prefix your post with why you wont/don't use slug pellets ?

One of the most recurring subject for posts recently and the discussion usually goes along predictable lines especially this bumper wet year

[Eamon]

I credit the survival of my courgettes and cabbages with my night-time slug hunt. Every evening, as soon as it's dark enough to use the torch, I'm out there hunting down the slimy gits. Once found, they take flying lessons out onto the nearby busy road. ;D

[musicmike]

Hiya, could you put the copper stick on tape around the boards of the raised bed? Only my pots with copper tape on have survived slug attack this year. There has been so much rain I have even had slugs sitting at the top of my back door :o
At my allotment when it is as wet as it has been lately slug pellets just don't work effectively so I tend to put down a nice slug hotel - large sheet of thick cardboard - I then go down in the morning & turn it over & cut the slugs in half with scissors! You dont have to touch them as they stick to the card when you turn it over so you can just snip through them. The birds clear up the mess. A piece of wood is even better as it wont get soggy & difficult to turn over.
Jane

Of course you could transfer them to the compost and make them work.