new way to beat the slugs

[taralastair]

We have been trying oats sprinkled around young plants to keep slugs off and found it works very well. Previously we had tried bran which worked ok, but last weekend I used oats instead. After a week of drizzly weather (favourable slug conditions) not one of my newly transplanted lettuces had been touched! I had expected to lose about half. Worth a try as its not expensive. Anyone else tried this?

Tara

[Johnboy]

Hi Tara,
This is fine until the one time you forget to give the Slugs their Oats and you will have this hoard of enormous Haggis sized MacSlugs maraunding over your borders. History tells use that we have been here before!!

[Chantal]

I'd be too worried that the rats also like oats

[taralastair]

Hi Johnboy, not sure I understand what you mean by your post. Sounds scarry.

Hadn't thought about the rats. So far haven't noticed any evidence of any rats around us. But see your point.


Tara

[Compo]

The joke from Johnboy was to do with Scottish Slugs eating Scots porridge oats.

Horse bran from your local farm or country store is also great, five quid or so for a massive sack keep it dry and sealed away from them thar meeces though. It lasts about four to six weeks then just goes into the ground nicely. Works very well I find

Compo

[Allan]

My latest batch of lettuce are in quarter-inch mesh galvanised wire cages and so far not one slug hole to be seen.I have a roll of such mesh to enclose a 30 foot bed and save tying up individual cages on the job. It seems it's the night-time migratory slugs that do the damage.
Allan

[sprout]

Your cages sound great for e.g. peas Allan - did you make them yourself, or where did you find them please?

[Allan]

Seeing as you asked I have standardised my cages. They are based on quarter-inch galvanized mesh available as 3' x2' panels either in most DIY/GC shops or by the roll 3' x 25' at about £25in pet requisites. You need 1x1" (21 cm square planed)timber as a bundle. The sides are all 1' high, 2' across the ends, length to take a standard growbag gravel tray or 2 Stewart 22" square trays or with a bit of fiddling 4 standard seed trays. Make up panels to the external dimensions, full length horizontals, verticals minus twice timber thickness so as to give right size externally. For lids make up to fit inside cage and be supported at the sides by overlapping mesh i.e. the lid's frame is approx 22", not 24. Butt join all timber with 1.75 inch no.6 galv pozidrive screws, pre-drill to prevent splitting the timber. Staple the wire on with a staple gun.Assemble by tying together with garden wire, always twist up in the same direction so you can easily undo them. With lids, ideal for protecting 100% from mice, rabbits and birds.
I have now bought an extra roll of wire and cut it into thirds lengthwise, using the existing side and end panels to make a 25' x 6' enclosure, edges into soil, it should stop the nocturnal slugs. I happen to have some stakes ex-electric rabbit fencing,to provide vertical stability, otherwise canes, straight twigs, dowels, (W.H.Y.?)The normal bed size is inappropriate as it is in the mobile polytunnels.

[idigyourgarden]

You can try it for yourself and see.
OK i've tried the oats but the birds eat most of them. I've tried copper wire stripped from the bits sparks dump, it seems to work, but i'm not sure how well when it gets badly oxodised.
I had read that they didn't like crawling over rough sawn timber. This set me thinking what could I put down that was rough cheap organic.
BRIARS.
So it won't do anything for the blackberries but what the hell. So far it seems to work!.
Get several briars <the closer the thorns the better>, sned the leaves and lay them three or four side by side with no gaps.
Go try it and let me know.

Has any heard of this before?

p.s. in the summer edition of elektor
http://www.elektor-electronics.co.uk there is a circuit idea ( which the authour tested) which passes a/c through copper wire to fend off slugs and due to the a/c the copper doesn't oxodise.

Not as good as briars

[Allan]

I hope you aren't talking about living briars, or you will regret ever letting them loose. they have one of the fastest growths of any plant and will rapidly take over your land.
Have a look at chopped-up gorse as a possibility. For myself it's galvanized mesh.
Allan

[Marge]

I heard of one guy who when asked what his preferred method of slug control was said 'shotgun'!

[Sussexfleur]

Hi,
I've tried several different methods all to no avail...so I've gone back to my old favourite: Salt.... I just pour salt over the little darlings...not too much and watch them curl up!!! the best time to go looking is first thing in the morning and just before dusk or after rain...you'll be amazed at how many you get!! It's a bit nasty watching them, but if you have a son /grandson I'm sure they'll enjoy doing the job for you, my eleven year old is always the first to volunteer when the salt pot comes out!![/b]

[Vivien]

Idigyourgarden - I have used bramble prunings (first left to dry to ensure they're dead) to keep pigeons off brassicas when I've run out of netting. It works really well placed along the rows between the young plants as it gives them nowhere to land. I didn't think of the slug/snail bit, but that's probably because I use slug pellets - I'll try without next planting. Good idea.

[Allan]

Most of these methods are aimed at attacking the slugs directly. Don't forget the help that you can get from frogs, toads and some birds in keeping the numbers down. Unfortunately next door's cats have played havoc with the bird population, likewise at the farm we have a feral cat problem thanks to a neighbour who feeds and encourages them. Re. my barrier, the lettuce are doing fine, maybe that barrier helps a lot.
Allan