Hi Lois,
You were up late last night, had you been out in the garden with a torch and bucket? What a fab range of ideas to combat the dreaded beasts. I am going to follow your example...I have some raised beds in my garden and will try the nematodes there first as I feel there is more chance of controlling the slugs there than on the allotment. I also grow most of my salad veg at home and they seem more vunerable than other crops. I have already planted my earlies up on the lottie so they will have to take their chances!!I did chose hardy varieties so fingers crossed.
PS my daughter is also called Lois and I have never met anyone else with the same name in13 years apart from her geography teacher!!
LOL Helen
Has anyone ever tried the nematode for controlling slugs?
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Helenclare
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I have just noticed the clock is an hour slow on the postings board , so you weren't up as late as I thought you were last night!!
Helen
Helen
Hi Helen,
I am often posting till about 4-5am, a habit I am trying to get out of! LOL
Ever heard of the Butcombe Box?
I am creating one of these on my plot as a seedbed and lettuce bed. An HDRA member thought it up and I presume his name was Butcombe.
Make an edged bed (the HDRA recommend 4'x4' but mine is somewhat larger than this) and staple a strong mesh to the bottom of it. I am using the green plastic greenhouse shading but the heavy duty ground fabric should work too.
The bed is then placed on the soil or inside a raised bed and some copper piping is nailed to the outside but not too near the top. And then some guttering is attached to the top of the bed edges leaving no gaps at all.
The bed is then filled with clean top soil and compost that you know is free of slugs and slug eggs and then the guttering (moat) is filled with water and kept filled (watch it doesn't dry out in the summer).
The water drains through the mesh but the slugs can't get in through it. They can't swim across the moat even if they can get past the copper pipe.
One permanently slug free lettuce bed
Have seen the one at the HDRA Ryton Gardens with lovely lettuces growing within!
Lois
I am often posting till about 4-5am, a habit I am trying to get out of! LOL
Ever heard of the Butcombe Box?
I am creating one of these on my plot as a seedbed and lettuce bed. An HDRA member thought it up and I presume his name was Butcombe.
Make an edged bed (the HDRA recommend 4'x4' but mine is somewhat larger than this) and staple a strong mesh to the bottom of it. I am using the green plastic greenhouse shading but the heavy duty ground fabric should work too.
The bed is then placed on the soil or inside a raised bed and some copper piping is nailed to the outside but not too near the top. And then some guttering is attached to the top of the bed edges leaving no gaps at all.
The bed is then filled with clean top soil and compost that you know is free of slugs and slug eggs and then the guttering (moat) is filled with water and kept filled (watch it doesn't dry out in the summer).
The water drains through the mesh but the slugs can't get in through it. They can't swim across the moat even if they can get past the copper pipe.
One permanently slug free lettuce bed
Have seen the one at the HDRA Ryton Gardens with lovely lettuces growing within!
Lois
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the
same level of thinking we were at when we created them
Albert Einstein
same level of thinking we were at when we created them
Albert Einstein
No Lois, I don't think it's possible to go over board in ones attempts to keep slugs at bay. 
We have found cold tea to be the most effective drowning liquid. We have lidded jars of it scattered round the allotment so there is always one handy whenever we find a slug. Slugs can crawl out of salted water, but only the biggest even try to get out of tea.
That's in harness with the crushed eggshells and hair round vulnerable plants, beer traps, the nematodes and patrolling with terminus est (a sharpened bicycle spoke).
We have found cold tea to be the most effective drowning liquid. We have lidded jars of it scattered round the allotment so there is always one handy whenever we find a slug. Slugs can crawl out of salted water, but only the biggest even try to get out of tea.
That's in harness with the crushed eggshells and hair round vulnerable plants, beer traps, the nematodes and patrolling with terminus est (a sharpened bicycle spoke).
We have two allotment plots one towards the bottom of the site (we don't have much of a problem with slugs here), then we have a plot about halfway up, here we have a major slug problem, the earth is much damper here, little black ones and big juicy one esp. in the polytunnel.
At the bottom of this plot next to the car standing space is an area where the previous owner had his manure delivered and now there is a large indent in the ground we are thinking of making a 'wildlife pond' not for fish but for newts, frogs and insects, mainly to control slugs & others pests, good idea or not? any ideas for pond/marginal plants to attract the said insects etc?
At the bottom of this plot next to the car standing space is an area where the previous owner had his manure delivered and now there is a large indent in the ground we are thinking of making a 'wildlife pond' not for fish but for newts, frogs and insects, mainly to control slugs & others pests, good idea or not? any ideas for pond/marginal plants to attract the said insects etc?
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Jenny Green
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A pond is usually a good idea, though I would be concerned about creating one in a public area because of the risk of children falling in.
If you do go ahead, look up details on creating a pond as it's a bit more complicated than digging a hole. For example, you'll need to choose which kind of liner you'd like. Then, in order to keep the water relatively sweet, you'll need and area which has a depth of 3' or more. You'll need oxygenating plants. One often recommended is elodea crispa (I think). It is effective but rather rampant - though if you're happy to keep pulling it out it composts really well. It's been a while since I've had a pond so can't remember the names of most of the plants. I think I had water violet, water forget me not, bog bean, darmera peltata, zebra grass (good for dragon fly nymphs) and pickerel weed (could be wrong on that one).
Anyway, yes, it'll almost certainly attract frogs, which'll help with the slug problem.
If you do go ahead, look up details on creating a pond as it's a bit more complicated than digging a hole. For example, you'll need to choose which kind of liner you'd like. Then, in order to keep the water relatively sweet, you'll need and area which has a depth of 3' or more. You'll need oxygenating plants. One often recommended is elodea crispa (I think). It is effective but rather rampant - though if you're happy to keep pulling it out it composts really well. It's been a while since I've had a pond so can't remember the names of most of the plants. I think I had water violet, water forget me not, bog bean, darmera peltata, zebra grass (good for dragon fly nymphs) and pickerel weed (could be wrong on that one).
Anyway, yes, it'll almost certainly attract frogs, which'll help with the slug problem.
Thanks for the tip about the cold tea Beccy 
Frantony,
As Jenny has pointed out you will need a barrier if the pond is accessible by any children. Also I don't believe that forgs and newts will spawn in the same pond so you need to work out which to go for, and a good way to get started is to take a bucket of water from another pond on the site with some frog spawn in it to add to the new pond. This gives you a head start.
You also need areas that the frogs will be happy to frequent. If you have a very tidy plot (esp if you have raised beds as I do) you will need to leave some piles of old wood or have a wild planted area closer to your crops to attract the frogs to the plot.
I was going to install a pond on my vegetable plot but have found so many frogs on the plot as I have been preparing it and have plot holders nearby with ponds so I'm just going to make sure there is a frog freindly habitat on my plot.
Be careful with the plants as some imported ones take over and are not recommended. The nurseries etc will encourage you to buy some of the bad ones so research needs to be done there methinks.
And again as mentioned by Jenny you do need to make it deep enough for creatures who prefer a cooler environment in the summer and so that the water isn't too cold when it freezes over (placing a ball on the surface will prevent it from freezing over totally). You also need a shallow area with easy access for the creatures (a plank or rocks can provide this).
Good luck with it and if you do go ahead do post to let us all know how it goes.
Lois
Frantony,
As Jenny has pointed out you will need a barrier if the pond is accessible by any children. Also I don't believe that forgs and newts will spawn in the same pond so you need to work out which to go for, and a good way to get started is to take a bucket of water from another pond on the site with some frog spawn in it to add to the new pond. This gives you a head start.
You also need areas that the frogs will be happy to frequent. If you have a very tidy plot (esp if you have raised beds as I do) you will need to leave some piles of old wood or have a wild planted area closer to your crops to attract the frogs to the plot.
I was going to install a pond on my vegetable plot but have found so many frogs on the plot as I have been preparing it and have plot holders nearby with ponds so I'm just going to make sure there is a frog freindly habitat on my plot.
Be careful with the plants as some imported ones take over and are not recommended. The nurseries etc will encourage you to buy some of the bad ones so research needs to be done there methinks.
And again as mentioned by Jenny you do need to make it deep enough for creatures who prefer a cooler environment in the summer and so that the water isn't too cold when it freezes over (placing a ball on the surface will prevent it from freezing over totally). You also need a shallow area with easy access for the creatures (a plank or rocks can provide this).
Good luck with it and if you do go ahead do post to let us all know how it goes.
Lois
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the
same level of thinking we were at when we created them
Albert Einstein
same level of thinking we were at when we created them
Albert Einstein
Has anyone tried bran to attract slugs and snails.
Put some bran around the plant you want to protect, the slugs will eat the bran instead. If you put some on the patio or the path in the evening in the summer, you wont have to go out at night and collect them, they'll still be eating it in the morning. They don't seem to be able to stop eating it, and the bran is so dry they get dehydrated, and have a hard job slithering away.
Put some bran around the plant you want to protect, the slugs will eat the bran instead. If you put some on the patio or the path in the evening in the summer, you wont have to go out at night and collect them, they'll still be eating it in the morning. They don't seem to be able to stop eating it, and the bran is so dry they get dehydrated, and have a hard job slithering away.
"One of the healthiest ways to gamble is with a spade and a packet of garden seeds"
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Guest
I've found with my raised beds, that by covering them with a layer of carpet overnight, then removing it in the morning, that you can just 'pick off' the slugs from the surface. Keep this up for a night or two, and you're fairly rid of them by planting time....
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peter
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Guest, that idea I like.
Regards, Peter.
Regards, Peter.
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.
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I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
The tea method is quicker than any other liquid I have tried (beer, salt water, various other drinks they have got into). It seems to 'tan' the slugs, and they don't even try to get out of the tea.
But then I have to admit to being completely heartless when it comes to slugs.
But then I have to admit to being completely heartless when it comes to slugs.