Hi folks
Today was an exciting day! We lifted the Romano maincrop. 28kg from 30 plants so I'm not disappointed with yield. Actually, pleasantly surprised, considering we cut the haulms down early due to blight.
Just under half of them were slugged though :( >:(
I'm not too sure, given the damp year, but I think I might have to consider that I have a wee slug problem in the garden. I had swede in there last year and they were pretty scarred by the time they were lifted.
I'm thinking of digging in a good helping of poundland's finest metaldehyde pellets to see if that brings the population down. What are folks thoughts? Is it worth it, or a waste of a couple of quid?
Also can anyone recommend a slug resistant maincrop variety with fairly all-round eating qualities? I was hoping to grow Desiree as a maincrop next year.
Still, I'm grateful I got as many as I did as I know some people have had it much worse.
Cheers
Gord
We pulled our first crop of tatties today...well, actually it was our first crop of anything from our allotment!
Most of ours had been got at by slugs and the like...still, got just enough for our dinner tonight, so thats something!
Digging in slugpellets is waste and unnessary pollution. When pellets are in wet soil they will disolve and get flushed without having any effect to the slugs...they need to eat the stuff.
So if you are going to 'treat' your soil..leave it on surface and as it is so rainy at the moment, do little and often.
I would rather spend money for the slug nematodes..soil is moist and warm and conditions are just right for the the treatment....OR...if you don't want to spend the money, crafty trick is lay sheets of news paper on thin layers over the area..wait few days and lift the paper up and get rid, there should be 'millions' of them stuck on eating the paper way...much more effective than pellets.. ;)
I grew Wilja, Picasso, Desiree and Sarpo Mira. The Wilja and Picasso I hardky had anything from, the Desiree are a very poor yield as I had to cut the haulms off about a month ago but the Sarpo are blight resistant and according to the T&M website, are relatively unaffected by slugs - http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/potatoes/maincrop/potato-sarpo-mira/zww5119TM . I gre2w them last year and noticed that there was no slug damage but have only just cut the haulms down on them this year so not sure what the crop is like.
Sarpo Mira are pretty slug resistant, they'll eat them if they find them but they don't seek them out the way they do with some varieties (Salad Blue, Lady Chrystl)