SUPERMARKETGURU FOOD &
HEALTH WEEKLY NEWSFLASH!
Slugs!
Published on: October 6, 2008by Diana Greenwood Mead
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This week Judy Peterson writes to Diana with a common gardening problem ...
Dear Diana,
Slugs are eating my greens! Turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens and green beans ...
They eat the leaves, flowers, and beans, leaving large, irregular holes. I read that beer attracts them, so I put beer out, but only a few slugs went for that. Then I read that slugs are attracted to yeast, so I put out yeast-water, but that did not work.
Lately, I've gone out at night with a flashlight and picked the slimy, little critters off of my plants, but they seem to be multiplying and are out of control.
Please help!
Hi Judy,
I'm sorry to hear about your slug problem, it does seem to be almost universal – we had a cool damp spring here in England and the pests had a field day!
Starting from the beginning – general garden health – slugs will thrive and breed where there is damp, calm air and no birds to eat them. So, make sure your garden/vegetable patch gets enough brisk air through it to dry the topsoil on a windy day.
Throw some wild bird seed around to get the birds in to munch on the slugs.
A big old stone bowl, or something similar, with some seed thrown in it is an excellent place to throw found slugs into – the birds will very soon get the message!
Secondly poisons (which I don't like) – if you want to use slug pellets put a few under fairly big pieces of broken flower pot (so the slugs can get at the pellets and the birds can't). Only use a few at a time – apparently too many will simply drive them away. You can also get solutions to water into the soil containing minute bugs which eat the slugs. Well that's the idea anyway ...
Gritty, sandy, gravelly, soil dressing is a good deterrent as the slugs can't travel over it easily.
On the whole, I really think that a healthy bird and insect filled garden is the best bet, and to that end you should perhaps consider growing a few patches of flowers among your vegetables to attract some flying insects for the birds, then put up a bird feeding table (you will be amazed at what grows from the spilled seed) and wait for results.
You will notice that I haven't mentioned saucers of beer and yeast and all those other remedies which I find are tedious to do, and have very little result - one thing is for sure – the beasts are here to stay and whatever works best in your part of the world is what you should do.
When I moved into my present house a few years back, it was a slug paradise. I took down the high solid fence on the south side and put in some picket fencing instead, then added a big bird table which was kept well stocked, and within a year the whole garden was much more slug free.
As always,
Happy Horticulture,
Diana
