[Jake]

Having done a lot of digging and weeding recently I've seen an incredible amount of creepy crawlies. Although thoroughly fascinating, I find myself thinking about it before sleep

Some I'm sure are good, some bad.

I've got milipedes in huge numbers.

Centipedes (I've seen 2).

Slugs (I know about then).

What I think are Leather Jackets (they look like the tequila worm).

The plot has been unused for 8 years (until last August). Should I be worried about the quantity of bugs or am I just new to the sight of a healthy ecosystem? Apart from the slugs I've not seen these types of bugs in my home garden.

[Heather_S]

centipedes and milipedes are fine. They won't hurt plants. I thought leatherjackets were more grayish wormies... They apparently go away after a year or two of cultivation, it's more common on unused plots and they eat brassicas mostly. If you find more in one area than another, I'd work that into your crop rotation plan and not plant brassicas there for a year or two.
Slugs are just a pain. Try to use bottle cloches to protect seedlings, it seems to deter them. Otherwise there's the beer traps or handpicking as far as organic methods of getting rid of slugs.

[Jake]

Thanks Heather_S

Glad to here that the milipedes shouldn't be a problem. A friend said he knew the centipede was a carnivore, crikey :shock:

I thought it wierd seeing 2 things I'd never seen before in one day, even though I've done a bit of gardening for a couple of years.

The thing I called a leatherjacket was not yellow like a tequila worm, but grey like you said. They seem to be all over the place, not in quantity but spread out.

John is trying nematodes for slugs this year, I'm going to wait because I don't want to spend 10 pounds on something I don't know is a problem yet. If John says they work, and I have a slug problem this year I'll try them too. I put beer traps out on Sunday and there weren't ANY slugs in them today so I hope that is a good sign.

[cede]

i have a board on the soil as well as a pile of bricks -both of these have attracted slugs, enabling me to get rid of them! as for the leatherjackets, although  they look repellent to us they are delicious to chickens...

[Jake]

i have a board on the soil as well as a pile of bricks -both of these have attracted slugs, enabling me to get rid of them! as for the leatherjackets, although  they look repellent to us they are delicious to chickens...

Hmm, I'll try the board trick too. I wonder if I can get someone to graze their Chickens on the plot or even if I'm allowed.

We've had a hit of cold weather again so as we've turned most of the soil hopefully that will help with the leathers. Feel a bit more at ease now, cheers guys.

[cede]

if you don't know anyone with chickens you could always pop them in a pot and feed the local ducks at the pond?!

[Victoria Plum]

I heard something about organic slug pellets the other day. However, forgot to write it down.

Does anyone know anything about organic slug pellets?

Frosty overnight down here, more forecast. Prompting lots of debate on the plot about potatoes and whether to plant yet or wait. I have no choice as I'm not organised enough to be ready for planting yet.

[Heather_S]

I think those are the ferro-wotsit iron-based slug pellets. They're supposedly safer but I don't know much beyond that. I'm considering buying some to try out. Basically they break down into iron and a sulphate (?) which are both good garden nutrients.

I planted my earlies a week or two ago and they've still not broke the surface yet. As long as they don't decide to make an appearance this week, I think I'll be good...

[John]

I've used them and they do work but not as effective as the nasty ones. They rot quickly, cost more and don't seem to attract the slugs as well. BUT they don't harm the environment, kill birds, pets, children and slug eating pests.

So they get my vote - you can get them from the organic catalogue (see links pages)