Page 31 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2024

Slugs and Snails
RON NUTALL
Slugs and snails cannot be tolerated in a vegetable plot. They are the number one pest and you should use all resources available to do away with them at
every opportunity. Serious growers, for exhibition or home supply, may have to resort to pellets as part of an acceptable action plan.
The family kitchen is our main customer
Sticking a knife into a cabbage which has been infested with slugs is not what is wanted! We are continually having to sway the family away from
buying vegetables in the
supermarket which are
attractively packaged,
in prime condition and
uniform in size, shape and
colour.
Starting in the autumn when temperatures drop and the soil still remains damp, eggs can be found in the most unlikely places. Mainly they are laid in compost heaps, under bags and trays or at the side of grass paths in the allotment.
Growers and farmers have many remarkable and likely answers.
In your garden. Consider the home- produced and novel solutions which work well. Getting rid of slugs in Beer traps and upturned Citrus halves, added to the dusk
inspection when they come out of hiding. There are many other modest ideas which are in the main hopeless and of no use.
In a glass houses or
poly tunnel. Slugs are
not tolerated. Here highly sophisticated and specialist schemes are used. In smaller greenhouses, where plants are grown
in containers, gardeners
can wrap a one-inch band of copper tape around the edge of the pot which is often sufficient to stop the pests from going any further.
In farmer’s fields slugs do not warrant special attention. Natural predators, such as hedgehogs and frogs eat the slugs and snails before they have a chance to trouble the crops (farmers also use a lot of slug pellets! – Ed)
Both
the winter
and spring-sown
oil seed rape crops
are seriously affected by grey field slugs. After emergence they immediately nibble seedlings reducing the vigour of the crop and its ability to cope with further pest damage. All resulting in crop-gaps which are attractive to pigeons and there are chemical controls for a last resort!
If you wish is to get rid of
these slimy creatures
Get to know more about
their way of life. When
gooey marks (slime trails)
are first noticed on the damp morning
soil, you already have an invasion that will have been in living there for several weeks, tactfully eating vegetables during the night and hiding in a damp place in the daytime. The large black slugs tend to be foragers living on decaying matter. The small back and grey slugs are the most damaging! They are quite adept a completely putting an end to young plants.
Sticking a knife into a cabbage which has been infested with slugs is not what is wanted!
Continue the conflict by noting these suggestions for slug control
• Removehidingplacesandaround your susceptible plants.
• Limeorsootrounddistinctplants is a natural slug repellant.
• Garlicwhiffsstopslugsandsnails in their tracks.
• Protectseedlings,byusingcloches and mini poly-tunnels.
• Makeabeertrapandwaterplants in a morning.
• January–April.Avigilantevening look for marks of pest activity.
• March.Cleartheplotbytaking away old brassica leaves
• April.Applynematodestothesoil?
• June.Spreadathinbarrierof pellets to the surrounding beds or individual plants.
• Digpotatoesassoonasthey are ready and before they are discovered by Keel slugs.
• Inconclusion.De-rubbishyour allotment by a clear-out round the places where our number one pest cannot be tolerated and use pellets as a last resource in your allotment.
Simply Vegetables 31