2014 Slug Invasion

[Monika]

We have more trouble with huge voracious snails (which live in the limestone walls bordering two sides of our allotment) and nematodes are not effective at all against surface feeding snails! It's ok to go out to collect the snails in the garden in the evening (with a strong torch), but I can't do that on the allotment, so, I am afraid to say, we do have to use slug and snail pellets.

[Pa Snip]

Well, it looks like the slugs are coming (at least on my plot).

Pa Snip, did you try the Nematode solution?

Nemaslug pack arrived yesterday (11/3/15)

First job (which may come as a surprise to some of our lady members, me being male ) I read the instructions !!

As instructed I checked the use by date...................flaming heck........use by 1/4/15. I was expecting a bit longer shelf life than that !!

Since I ordered a large pack and there is nothing much on the plot yet to use it on, other than strawberry bed and a dozen spring hero cabbages, the latter of which I confess is still being decimated by slugs, I can see this pack having to be used up mostly in the garden at home.

Since it relies on a slug presence to feed on and not on actual plant growth I wonder how effective it is, if at all, on a plot almost devoid of any plant growth at present.

Time will tell I guess, will make further report at a later date

[PLUMPUDDING]

It is the soil you are treating not the plants, so if the temperature is not too cold you should kill the slugs that are lurking in the soil ready to start breeding and eating your new plants.

[Pa Snip]

Since it relies on a slug presence to feed on and not on actual plant growth I wonder how effective it is, if at all, on a plot almost devoid of any plant growth at present.

To which Plum replied
It is the soil you are treating not the plants, so if the temperature is not too cold you should kill the slugs that are lurking in the soil ready to start breeding and eating your new plants.

Quite agree Plum, What I was trying to infer, and doing so badly, was that if there are no plants for slugs to feed off are there likely to be many in the ground anyway.

With the current chill wind the soil temp will be down again as well. Ihave a ominous feeling that conditions may not meet with the Nemaslug usage stipulations.

[mr-cecil]

Do you think we should be putting down slug control (any type) even if we don't have anything much to protect?

I suppose it wouldn't do any harm (from our point of view)

[Pa Snip]

Hi Mr Cecil
I am willing to try it if it results in a reasonable to significant reduction of slugs on the plot compared to last year.

I should have given a bit more thought about possible best time for first delivery of Nemaslug, so my own fault that it is looking as if the conditions may not be right for its use just yet.

I have been putting pellets around the spring hero cabbages all winter, if it were a football match the score would read
Pellets 0 - Slugs 1
judging by how many leaves have been slug chomped

[Geoff]

One thing I always do early on is put a sheet of plastic over the potato bed to warm it up, I put slug pellets under the plastic. I've never been convinced by Nemaslug even in greenhouse borders and polytunnel beds where you would expect it to work well so I have stopped using it.

[Pa Snip]

Hi Geoff

The snag with slugs is we rarely see them until the damage is well under way, or its harvest time and passengers are carried home.

One thing that does cross my mind is that Nemaslug is claimed to work 'in the ground' therefore I do wonder if it is going to have any effect on the nasty little black ones that take up residence in the heads of the brassicas. I suspect not, unless they venture back down to the soil.

As far as use of black plastic is concerned my fear has always been that it provides just the right conditions to attract the slugs, warm and moist. I must confess though I had not thought of placing pellets under the plastic right from the outset of using it.

Pa makes mental note to use the Nemaslug by its use by date in conjunction with something to place over the ground to keep it warmer.

[peter]

When I set up my squash bed it get chicken manure pellets and slug pellets immediately before the weed membrane is rolled out and weighted down. Extra pellets accompany each plant when it is set out. Not a guarenteed slug proofing, but it does keep the losses to a minimum and the membrane reduces the effect of rain on the pellets.

[Geoff]

It is clear plastic I use to warm the ground up (we have inconclusively discussed clear v black in the past but without thermocouples and recorders...) and I remove it for planting but put it back for a couple of weeks before rolling it up for another year.

[PLUMPUDDING]

If you lay a wooden plank on the soil slugs usually appear under it if they are around which gives a clue to their presence and if they are active.

Glad you are using the clear plastic Geoff. My little experiment convinced me that that was the most effective at warming the soil - over fleece, bubble plastic and black plastic, even if it wasn't done using high tech instruments.

[Elaine]

We use the Nemesys stuff for Vine Weevil larvae in our strawberry pots and it does state the soil/compost has to be at a certain temperature to work.

I got some last year and we had only a week to use it!! As it was still frosty, there was no point in even trying, so I phoned the company I got it from...Marshalls I think....and they said to ring them again if we weren't able to use it by the expiry date. This I did, and they sent me another pack and didn't even want me to return the original.

[mr-cecil]

Pa Snip, how is the Nemaslug going?

[Pa Snip]

Pa Snip, how is the Nemaslug going?

Hi Mr C,
It went !

What a faff about.
a) it was sent out to me far too early as the ground temperature was only questionably high enough to apply it before it expired

b) you need a really coarse rose on the watering can as otherwise it tended to keep blocking the rose

c) Even in March, when it was applied, it was difficult to keep the ground damp as per instructions

d) One large pkt, which is over £20, treats less than half an allotment plot and I think it was a case of them suggesting it was retreated after 6 weeks, small fortune investment that would be.

Therefore as I say, it went .................................

out the window after one attempt.

And to prove it my Spring Hero cabbages have been decimated by slugs despite them having been treated

[andoy]

I believe Nemaslug is only effective against younger slugs.

So to use it you need to start using it early in the season, continue to use it and hope your neighbouring plots are keeping their populations under control as they'll just come over to snack at your plot. So if you have quite a few largish slugs, you will need to use some other control untill you control their numbers

I've seen a clip of how to culture your own nematodes (it's actually the bacteria the nematodes carry that kills the slug). Basically start the culture by keeping a few in bucket with a little water in it and build up an island of veg in the middle. Dilute the slurry at the end and use to water your plot. restart the culture every 4-6 weeks.

I've only just started culturing them this year, but I have used Nemaslug quite effectively in my garden in the past