[scotty]

OMG they are back! was out last night doing the chores and the blighters are everywhere.
please tell me they won't touch my fruit canes i'v just put in or the nice garlic which has popped up.
big Q, do i start setting beer traps for them now, before i get any young plants or seeds in the beds. although wasn't growing anything last year, they were evrywhere, so reckon i have a huge population to deasl with
Ta 

[RGManby]

If you have the money try nimatodes, they will get the youngs ones still underground, worth the investment if you have a huge slug problem.
Most decent garden centres will be getting them in now, for march - april application.

Good luck.

http://www.savetheplants.co.uk/shop/slug-killer-c-22.html?gclid=CI-Lt4Tp9JgCFQ0gQgodpEm00g Try here for further info, I would shop around before buying first though.

[Salmo]

I would start you beer traps going now.

Although big black or brown slugs are easily seen they are not usually a problem as they live on dead and decaying material. They can be controlled by keeping the place tidy.

What you have to worry about are the tiny keel slugs that live mainly underground.

I have no experience of using the slug killing nematode packs that you can buy and would be interested to hear the views of anyone who has used them.

They are quite expensive at £10 to treat 40 square metres (10m X 4m plot) but if they work they must be worth every penny. The sellers advise treating every 6 weeks which would be too expensive to cover a whole season. I would be inclined to apply one pack which should at least give them a good knocking to start the season. You have to wait until the soil is warm for them to work.

[Sadgit]

I will be using nematodes again this year. I got them too late last year and my seed spuds were almost destroyed by the swines.. Not cheap but there is no other way I can get a decent crop of spuds. Strange my lottie neighbours don't have the same problem I do

The year before I got next to no spuds from 7x7m rows, last year even though the seed spuds were hit but slugs, at least I had a fair few spuds compared to the year before.

[scotty]

thanks all

looks like i may have to do the expensive nematode route, but will start with beer traps 1st.

Although big black or brown slugs are easily seen they are not usually a problem as they live on dead and decaying material. They can be controlled by keeping the place tidy.

are you sure these big slugs don't eat plants? i was given a courgette plant last year and with no garden planted it on top of the muckheap. plant loved it but so did the large slugs once they found it. huge ones found inside what looked like a lovely courgette but on closer inspection they had munched their way in from the end. . they also seem to migrate to the horse feed. luckily secure bins but dosn't stop them trying.
we keep the farm tidy but slugs still around.

has anyone else found nematodes helpful?

[Rangerkris]

Will Asda own brand beer work. its about a pound for 4 cans i thought the other day about setting up slug traps befor i even get round to planting. what should i do with bodies. im guessing the cheap o stuff taste like pee

[scotty]

hi rangerkris

i'm new to all this so as to the slugs fav beer, i have no idea. but i have heard cheap an cheerful will do.
what say we start cheap and take it form there

[Rangerkris]

Sounds good to me save the better stuff for us hahahahha 

[sunshineband]

Will Asda own brand beer work. its about a pound for 4 cans i thought the other day about setting up slug traps befor i even get round to planting. what should i do with bodies. im guessing the cheap o stuff taste like pee
 
 
 Not able to give you a comparison with pee  but quite frankly the little slimers don't deserve any of the good stuff so go for el cheepo every time.

Can't get those traps doen soon enough as they arec coming out in force round here. Has a bit of a hand pick last nigth on some of the garden plants and found a fair few small greyish things 

[goose]

is there a bird/wildlife friendly slug repellant/killer??  i dont fancy picking them out of a jam jar ...ive a bit of a phobia after standing on a huge orange one and it quishing thru my toes   ive tried the egg shell thing and my new plot is too big to do the copper rings.  thanks in advance

[Salmo]

[/quote]

are you sure these big slugs don't eat plants? i was given a courgette plant last year and with no garden planted it on top of the muckheap. plant loved it but so did the large slugs once they found it. huge ones found inside what looked like a lovely courgette but on closer inspection they had munched their way in from the end. . they also seem to migrate to the horse feed. luckily secure bins but dosn't stop them trying.
we keep the farm tidy but slugs still around.


[/quote]

I was wrong, you have to be untidy according to http://www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o108-greatblackslug.php  (scroll down and slugs is at the bottom)
They only eat plants if you are too tidy and they have no decaying material to eat.
Maybe they started to eat the decaying flower end on your courgettes and got carried away?

[scotty]

thanks for the link salmo,

sure there was sufficient plant life (weeds) and horse poo to munch on, but i think i just have huge numbers to deal with. starting the beer traps tomorrow and will probably get the nematodes mid march. much chillier up here. don't mind handling poo, spiders, mice ...usual farm stuff but just hate slimey slugs!  here's hoping i can grow somthing without it getting eaten!

happy growing  

[strangerachael]

The cheaper the better I say. We used a batch of homebrew one year and they loved it. Put the dead beer sodden bodies in the compost, it's all good organic stuff.
Funny though - the year before last I was inundated with slugs, last year hardly any. I put it down to having cleared all the long grass from the edge of my plot. It could also have had something to do with a large toad I found living under a plank I left lying around.

[scotty]

lucky you, i hope thank friendly toad is still around. planning to get ducks at the start of summer so also hoping they will help me out as well!

wish for  toad, wish for a toad

[jb]

Will Asda own brand beer work. its about a pound for 4 cans i thought the other day about setting up slug traps befor i even get round to planting. what should i do with bodies. im guessing the cheap o stuff taste like pee
 
 
 Not able to give you a comparison with pee  but quite frankly the little slimers don't deserve any of the good stuff so go for el cheepo every time.

Can't get those traps doen soon enough as they arec coming out in force round here. Has a bit of a hand pick last nigth on some of the garden plants and found a fair few small greyish things 

Sadly I found that cheapo beer isn't antwhere near as good as good real ale-traps with cheap lager (25p a can) didn't catch a single slug last year. I've read that adding some yeast to the beer makes it more attractive and when I tried this it certainly didn't put the horrors off.
I used the nemetodes last year on the garden and they worked a treat. I'd treat the claim that you need to treat every 6 weeks with a pinch of salt as one treatment lasted ages for us.We found it decimated the population initially then beer traps/picking off maintained the population at a low level for the rest of the summer. If you have raised beds you could even try putting copper wire round after nematode treatment to stop the scumbags re-invading.
You are not alone, I'm off to set traps today as my winter lettuce and raddicchio have been destroyed and they are onto the broad beans.
Jon