[AnneB]

I tried nematodes during the great slug fest of summer 2012, admittedly aimed at trying to get at least one courgette /squash plant viable rather than on the spuds, but failed miserably.   Based on that experience I am not in a rush to try again. Oddly the spuds were alright that year, but I only grew second earlies and pelleted them at planting.

[beesrus]

There have always been a couple of well known hot spots on my plot where slugs tend to hold sway underground. They're probably the wettest part of my plot, drainage wise.
I have always kept my potatoes away from those areas in the past, but felt I would tempt fate and plant some there this year for some strange reason, probably too cocky. Lo and behold, I must have lost 20% in that place.
The rest of the crop only a few feet away has been fine with little to no damage, so, from now on, no relaxing of the basic rules. If it's a known slug city, it will only house crops that can survive their attention. So, sweet corn are earmarked for next year there. I can't imagine the slugs getting any joy out of them in a hurry. It's all very well trying to follow the classic crop rotation thing where left over nutrients etc are taken into consideration, but it's fairly pointless if a crop is plonked in a hot bed of well known pests.

[JimB]

.

I have just finished digging my potatoes, though I have had a very poor crop this year!

Almost no slug damage but quite a few large ones have been eaten, there are teeth marks on them though they are well down in the soil with no sign of anything digging down to them!

Only thing I can think off is the resident moles, but didn't think they were veggies!

Anyone have any ideas?

Many thanks for any info!

[Lisbon67]

Our whole site in Hove was badly affected - must have been the mild winter which failed to kill off any slugs. I ended up throwing a good proportion of mine away, which as a spud lover, broke my heart.

For what it's worth, Charlottes and British Queens were least affected, but Arran Victory and Setantas were decimated.

[surbie100]

greetings to all,after having 80% of my potatoes eaten by worms,would it be better to grow them in bags?thanks.

Hi there,
This year I kept a log of the results of bags vs ground. The spuds in a bag averaged just over 1kg potatoes per seed potato. The ones in the ground averaged 0.6kg per seed potato. So yield-wise the bags win, but I have a lot more spuds in the ground than in bags. I nematoded the ground in early June as the flowers started and didn't have much slug damage, other than the Desiree.

Hope that helps.

[3759allen]

was the holes from worms or wireworms?

if they have thin black tunnels running through them then they are wireworms.

as for slug damage my desiree got a small amount of slug damage (a lot of scab) the cara was completely un effected by both slug and scab.

[pigguns]

Must have been lucky, early charlottes, King Eds and late charlotte sowing lovely-mostly scab & slug free    I did chuck a few with scab from the another part of the plot-  a few feet away seems to make all the difference.