Anotherpower.com Forum
Off Grid Living / Camping => Off Grid Living / Alternative Housing => Gardening => Topic started by: niall on June 09, 2012, 02:57:24 pm
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anyone got any tips about keeping slugs under controll with non pesticides ? .....this year for some reason their really bad ...
what piss,s me off now is that there getting picky...as usuall they come out at night and arent even interested in the leaves , they just partially eat the soft base stems of just about everything and retire for the night....
i could ( and have ) use slug pellets , but i want to get away from that option ... :(
getting them pissed on beer to a terminal level i,m trying tonight ....i have my doubts though about this working ...but at least its more organic ...
(http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/oo279/itch1niall/punt022-001.jpg)
they can wipe out a line of salad cabbage overnight .......
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Diatomaceous earth (sp?). It has sharp edges slugs dislike
spread around plants to discourage.
A bit of beer in a saucer or can on its side they will get in it get drunk and drown. Well drown anyway.
Just things I used
Tom
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I am just brainstorming I don't know if any of this will work.
Salt
Maybe stake down plastic on the perimeter covered in a fine dusting of salt?
Drawback is rain wrecks this idea fast and it might kill the surrounding vegetation if done to often
Soapy water mist
Certain soaps seem to really keep bugs at bay, maybe the slugs wont like it either?
Electrification
I have seen these sticky backed tape that has a double strip of metal.
These are marketed for insect/ant control, maybe this around the garden stuck on a wooden perimeter could also be a more weather tolerant idea? I would lay the perimeter board angled slightly to shed the water so water shorts are self correcting.
Like I said, I have no idea if these would work, just brainstorming.
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hi Tom /Wolv...
"sharp edges" .....the "woman" mentioned spreading crumbled egg shells as an old wives tale ...guess there is something to that then .....i can see how the slime might be put off ...could be a definate runner there .... :)....
the soil here is to sticky and moist .....mmm....time maybe to roughen up the surface layer a bit ....interesting
salt ....love that .... :)
have absuletly no problem with a bit of " sterile " perimiter around the garden ....desirable even Wolv ...a bag or two will be spread around the green zone tomorrow ......
bet there going to just lourve that after their hangover .....thanks for the tips ....the games afoot....
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I seem to remember getting quite good results from coarse sawdust as a slug and snail barrier.
Putting something around the garden perimeter is likely to be less than ideal, as I think you'll find a lot of the buggers go to ground IN your garden.
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I've fought pests for years with different things. Slugs like beer. That worked for a while until the neighbors dog learned when to drop by each day.
A trail of salt around the perimeter also worked for a while.
Bacillus (BT) helps also when mixed with dish washing soap if you spray the underside and around the base of plants.
My favorite is the cheapest tobacco and gin steeped together and let set in the hot sun for a few days. Dilute 10:1 with water and spray the entire area.
This works on many pests and good insects too, unfortunately. Don't be tempted to smell this stuff unless you want to empty your stomach. It is very foul.
Dichotomous earth is supposed to work. I haven't tried it though.
Niall, I think the key is to work the soil around the plants to kill as many as possible, then trade off different methods because they will get immune to them over several weeks.
Just my way of staying off pesticides because they work on people too. :o
Good Luck!
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thanks again for the tips.... :)
i spread some cheap salt today ..( have lots of that ) and the beer saucers last night did terminate a few big slugs .....kind off ...bit for the slugs ...bit for me.....
nice to see the row of red salad cabbage still standing this morning....
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Think of something that lives on slugs and then encourage that.
Hedgehogs (don't know if you have them where you live)
Frogs (needs a good sized pond to maintain a population)
Birds (trouble is the birds are only about in daylight)
Robotic slug masher (not been invented yet but theres a project for you!!)
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mmm...a drone
i seen one of those robot lawn mowers a while back....it was great fun to watch ...just seemed to trundle around , nipping away and that lawn was anything but flat ...more like a slope
it reminded me of the little maintenance robots in silent running .... :)
very impressive i thought.......
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it reminded me of the little maintenance robots in silent running ....
They always reminded me of Zorg's office cleaning robots in The Fifth Element.
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Before I go to bed I get my flashlite and a full saltshaker. Then start looking for the victim's cause that's what they are when I,m finished. Ya half to put a lot of salt on them as sometimes they will escapee. , And or step on them. And during the daylite hours I bury a bunch of M T tuna fish cans throughout the garden and put in some beer. half full is plenty.
Also check around where you feed the animals if you have pets because the slugs feast on dog and cat food. Watch for there slimy trails to find there hiding spots. You may not get them all, but you can sure nock there numbers down to a tolerance. Grit
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I had forgotten about using chickens to get rid of unwanted things in the garden. I used to open the gate about half hour before dark. That way they would eat them and go to roost before they could do much damage to the plants.
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I understand this will go against "under controll with non pesticides".
Those pellets do not need spread like grass seed.
They are attracted to the pellets from quite a distance.
I placed 1 single pellet every 6" around the perimeter. About 1 pellet per square foot inside the perimeter.
The plants that were 1" tall at dusk and 0" tall at dawn for a week straight got 2-3 pellets around them a few inches out.
Had no more problems for a bit over a week?
Realized from tracks on the sidewalk they were coming in from the yard.
Repeated the 1st application, and added a outer perimeter or 2 a few feet into the yard to get them on their way in.
We had not planted anything for a year or 2. Forgot about the slugs. Went looking for the pellets and only had about a coffee cup full left. Tried to conserve them until payday, however I did not need to buy more pellets that year.
That's how I found out a little goes a long ways.
G-
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a little could go a long way as you say.....
i think i had a kindof slug army in waiting.....the population is down now ...so maybe a kind of peace will prevail for a while ....
" Those pellets do not need spread like grass seed. "....
now i need to get the "ould fella" to stop spreading the stuff with abandon .....not a slug lover he is .... >:(
thanks again for all the tips and thoughts....guess its wait and see time now.....
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http://www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/snails-slugs.htm
http://www.plantea.com/slug-baits-coffee.htm
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How has your battle of slime went naill?
It.sounds like a brewed coffee boiled down a bit to concentrate, and put in a spray bottle might be a very effective weapon judging from one of the links Woofer posted.
I have seen that tobacco trick used very recently, but the guy said its not so good on slugs, and not to use on vegetables as it really is seriously toxic.
I looked it up, and yeah its banned by a few states and maybe even the EPA now
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well things seem to be in hand ( just about ) so far .....
a lot of the plants/seedlings are going beyond their delicate stage which helps i think
in one of Woofers links metaldehyde pellets are the the slightly toxic ones and sure enough that,s what i have.....but i,ve been keeping them to the verges of the garden ( hedge etc) in small amounts
i think the Blitzkrieg a couple of weeks ago curtailed the population , but i can see the remainder zipping up each others little chemical warfare suits and plotting against me ...the only veg they dont seem to like much are young onion sets ...
mmm...i have a couple of bags of out of date coffey ...( not a coffey lover ).....guess it would,nt be any harm to strinkle a bit of that around the beetroot row later ... :)
on a side note i,v got some real nice basil doing well...it,s got a long grow period ( not like the force fed supermarket option ) and tastes half basil half anniuseed ...should be good for the pasta later
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I am in envy Niall, the only thing I seem to do with Basil is kill it. It seems about 4C kills it. (not frost)
May try again however as nights are staying no worse than 9C.
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:)
there still small yet Bj.....but seem happy enough so far in the kitchen window ..." so far "