[Salmo]

Has anyone tried this? It appeared in the Sunday Telegraph June 2011, Toby Buckland

How to make your own slug killer

In any average garden some slugs will be carrying bacterial diseases or be infected by nematodes, but their low density means that they won’t devastate the rest of the population.

But, catch and confine the slugs and, if the disease or nematodes are present, you can concentrate these micro-predators and harness their natural slug-killing power.


Collect as many slugs as you can find in a jar that has a few small air holes punched in the lid with a hammer and nail – and a few weed leaves for them to eat. The best time to hunt for slugs is after dark. In the gloom, slugs become quite brazen and eat on top of leaves as opposed to holing up in cool, dark and damp places as by day.

If stumbling around with a torch is a bridge too far, look for slugs during the day in the drainage holes of pots, beneath stones and hunkered in long grass. If they evade your efforts, set traps. A classic that works brilliantly for hard-to-find small ground-dwelling slugs is to place the scooped out half-shells of grapefruits near the crowns of vulnerable plants.

Come dawn, the slugs make for the damp yellow domes, as they love to chew the pith inside. Slugs also make a beeline for cardboard. Lay a sheet on the ground among long grass. Check your traps daily and gather your slimy harvest into a jar.


Once you have caught around 10 to 20 slugs – the more you have the better it works – decant them into a bucket with an inch or so of water in the bottom for humidity and a few more handfuls of leaves to make an edible floating island for your catch.

With the slugs safely inside, place a concrete slab (or any firm cover) over the top to seal them in. The bucket is the perfect environment for the nematodes and bacteria to breed. Nematodes spread in water, so check regularly, giving the slugs a stir with a stick. The idea isn’t to drown them but to keep them moist so the nematodes can hunt them out.

Top tip: This is cheating a bit, but you can use a bought pack of nematodes to “seed” the brew. Tap about a teaspoon of powder into the bucket to help it along.


After a fortnight a high level of nematodes will have built up inside the bucket and the slugs will have died from infection. Now, you can dilute the brew: fill the bucket to the top from the tap and decant into a watering can fitted with a rose.

Prevent the weed and slug mixture from falling into the can with a filter of chicken wire folded over the can so it stays put while you pour.


Water the sieved brew around vulnerable plants – the raised nematode population will seek out resident ground-dwelling slugs and see them off.

Like the shop-bought version, this slug killer gives up to six weeks of protection. Save the contents of the chicken wire sieve (uurrgh!) to start off your next nematode brew.

[savbo]

wasn't there a thread about this around that time? I remember reading the article and as I am not a Telegraph reader it must have been on here!

sav

[ghost61]

I'm in the process of doing this. Maddeningly there are few slugs about at the moment, but we have managed to find a few fat ones to help the process along.  Last year the plot was heaving with the little devils! Will do a controlled test to see if this does work, and will report back.

[Kleftiwallah]

I've read and re-read the article, but I cannot find where it says you DON'T need a nematode 'starter'?

Cheers,   Tony.

[ghost61]

Apparently slugs can be carriers of the nematode, and the brew you create helps those nematodes increase. So if you're unlucky and have slugs that are in rude health, the brew won't work.

[Salmo]

I've read and re-read the article, but I cannot find where it says you DON'T need a nematode 'starter'?

Cheers,   Tony.

Paragraph 1 and 2.

[Amilo]

Has anyone tried it yet? and does it work?

I have Nematodes on order for slugs and saw fly, I spotted the little blighter’s just before they done any real damage but my hands are say with gooseberry spikes.

I intend to have a go at there slug version by using the kit as a starter as well as treatment.

[arugula]

wasn't there a thread about this around that time?

Yes, here it is:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=101693.msg1134661#msg1134661

not around that time; much more recently.

[boddy]

Wanted to put a post on about this and found an existing one, so I thought I'd get it going again. I subscribe (free) to Learn how to garden website http://www.learn-how-to-garden.com/ . On this months newsletter (video) he explains how to breed your own nemotodes (similar to above). Once you subscribe he will send you an email each month with a password to watch the video. Would be rude of me to post the password but I'll give it to you if you pm me, I rather like receiving his email each month though, reminds me to watch.