Slugs and Other Annoyances in the Kitchen Garden
How to protect your plants from slugs, snails, root fly and more..
Anyone who enjoys planting something in the garden for future consumption will know that more time is devoted to protecting said crop then actually growing, watering, cropping and cooking.
Slugs, like flies (and wasps for that matter) are disgusting and quite useless, the sight of them stuck to the side of the greenhouse, or better still lettuce crop is blood curdling to say the least.
Thankfully we have other pests to contend with to stave off the boredom; birds, rabbits, moles, red spider mites, cabbage caterpillars, whitefly, eelworms, vine weevils, carrot root fly, the list goes on. If they don’t finish the job then the mildew, bacterial and/or viral diseases probably will. Failing that then wait for the freak frosts, torrential rain and gale force winds that make an English summer.
That said we still come back for more each year, and the more dedicated devote precious time to keep the said pests at bay. Take my advice, only the Berlin Wall will keep rabbits off your plot and moles, well forget it-they will return.
Netting will keep the birds and cats away, some favour drowning slugs in beer, which I find a criminal waste and prefer using crushed eggshells or saw dust whilst drowning my sorrows with the beer. Aphids and spider mites don’t like showering with soapy water and vine weevils need a good dose of non-organic parasite killer (I’ll risk growing a second head from the chemicals if it means killing the buggers)
When all else fails, give up! That’s why there’s a Tesco on every corner, they’re full of disgruntled gardeners.
Any suggestions for getting rid of the blighters gratefully received.
Miles,
tell me about it !
I did 2 patrols last night, the final one at 1.45 am.
The beer trap does actually work but I found wasting alcohol like that more distressing than slug damage
What I want to know is…
where do they all go during the day ?
Best
Rod
August 12, 2007 @ 9:03 am
Rod,
Good question! They lay in wait laughing at us until we finish planting out all the young seedlings and then..bingo!
miles
August 12, 2007 @ 9:41 am
Rod Collins,
get your neighbours to put the beer out and with any luck they will all march off next door.
During the day they rest up under stones and lushy leaves.
August 14, 2007 @ 9:14 pm
Miles
I agree, they are disgusting and by crawling over my wild strawberries have ruined my eagerly awaited strawberry punch.
I am afraid that beer, hedghogs and frogs are my only hope left.
August 14, 2007 @ 9:20 pm
Elsie,
Sorry to hear about your strawberries, the wild ones are delicious, especially dried as they become quite potent.
I cannot bring myself to use beer as bait no matter what anyone says-I’d rather tarmac the whole garden than give a slug any of my beer!!
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
miles
August 14, 2007 @ 10:46 pm
Hello Miles,
Two things about my mother, one is that she sneezed at the Registrars so I’m called Ciderella. Second she recommends vinegar as a slug repellent although not on the plants themselves.
Cid x
August 15, 2007 @ 10:32 am
Hello Cid,
Count yourself lucky-I was nearly called Wolfgang!
thanks for visiting and taking time to comment
miles
August 15, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
Miles,
I know this blog was written a while ago, but just had to comment. Here is California, land of sun and drought, we, too, have the dread snail and slug plague. I have found a great product to use that will not be a danger to wildlife (except for the wild snail in the group), and eventually breaks down into a very nice fertilizer. the product is called Sluggo, and I , as I said, I have had great success with it.
Hang in there!!!
August 31, 2007 @ 5:56 pm
Annie,
Knowing that you have slugs helps to ease the envy of you living in California!
Sluggo sounds great, if it ever goes out of production then I am sure my brother would be happy to fly over and conduct his midnight slug patrols for you!
Thanks for commentating, I hope you like the blog and you come back to comment again soon.
kind regards
miles
August 31, 2007 @ 9:03 pm
Hi Miles,
Perhaps I should send some Sluggo to you. I could start the U.K. franchise and make MILLIONS!!!
I truly enjoy your blog and the site with all the food and wine suggestions.
You and Rod are welcome anytime, and you don’t even have to do slug patrol!!! We’ll save the beer for drinking. By the way, for my son’s engagement party we had a keg with 13.3 GALLONS of Harp beer. 13 gallons is truly an enormous quantity. We also had a couple of case of wine, 50 or so cans of soda, 100+ bottles of water (which were all consumed, and a case of lovely almond champagne from a local winery (Wilson Creek). Oh, and lots of food (appetizers and a BBQ buffet, with a yummy cake for dessert).
Whenever you want to visit California, let me know. I have a spare bedroom and a second bathroom just waiting.
September 2, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
Annie,
Thanks for the offer! All that beer could be tempting! I like the sound of the champagne too, how many people did you invite to the party? sounds like a great bash!
Miles
September 3, 2007 @ 4:31 pm
Hello again,
We had 66 people at the party, including a few children. It was quite the bash.
The champagne was a definite hit. We also had some nice pinot noirs, rieslings, etc.
September 3, 2007 @ 7:42 pm
Annie,
Sixty six people is indeed an impressive number, far more than I could aspire to. I must admit the pinot and rieslings do it for me more than the Harp but beggars cannot be choosers!
Miles
September 3, 2007 @ 11:12 pm