Saturday, April 26, 2014

Slug patrol

To follow up on my previous post, I can report that I did order some nematodes a few weeks ago. Application is very easy – the contents of the packet are mixed with a specific volume of water and then you simply water the lot over your garden. I had 6 raised beds to treat and then used the remainder on specific areas of the wider garden where slugs are causing a problem. I planted out 4 echinacea plants that I raised from seed last year, and within 3 days, they were looking very nibbled and sorry for themselves. I also have an open area of a sunny bed where my dahlias will go, so that was a target area to treat also.

So far, things are looking pretty good. I planted out meteor pea seedlings a week ago and there are very few signs of any slug damage on those. The plants have really started to grow well in the recent warm weather and a couple of them are now showing flowers.


And in the greenhouse, where space is a little tight right, I've been pricking out my tomato plants. Hopefully I will have room to move these onto larger pots next month.
I am finding small slugs and snails in the greenhouse still – maybe hitchhiking in on the bottom of a pot? It's not all bad news though as the chickens are making short work of these as a breakfast treat!


8 comments:

  1. A pity nematodes are not indigenous. Trouble is them living inn the soil means snails avoid them and we have lots of snails.

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    1. These nematodes are indigenous to the UK - they just don't reproduce fast enough to deal with an exploding population of slugs, so introducing a huge number of them into a selected area is an effective biological control. Agree re the snails though. It's a pity you can't order up a packet of dehydrated hedgehogs to release!

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  2. Glad to hear that they seem to be working for you. I reckon it's been a good winter for slugs with it being mild so they'll be out in force this year.

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    1. So far so good, Jo. The echinacea seem to be recovering well since the initial onslaught. Keeping my fingers crossed for when the dahlias go out.

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    1. That's why I love gardening blogs Endah - I'm always learning something new.

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  4. I've just lost a couple of courgettes - possibly I planted them out too soon - so I'm really interested to read that nematodes seem to have worked for you. I've sprinkled a few organic slug pellets around which all seem to get eaten but those baby slugs keep getting bigger!

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    1. My sympathies Caro - I lost about 3 courgette/pumpkin plants to slugs last year. The nematode treatment is supposed to last 6 weeks: I expect that's the incubation time for slug eggs, of which I'm finding loads in my homemade compost.

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