Slugs and Snails

I used to put all my slugs and snails on the compost heap. The trouble was that they enjoyed it so much there that they bred quite rapidly and my allotment was over run with the blighters. Now I take off all the slugs and snails and take them home to put into the council's green bin. You have to put a weight on top of the lid to keep them from escaping but it is an easy way to get rid of them without killing them. 

I used Nemaslug nematode (Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita) worms last year, spraying them only in areas where I know snails and slugs congregate. I am also using them this year.  While I would not say that this has been 100% effective, it does seem to have reduced damage so far this year. (I watered them on in March and again in May 2011)  I am hoping that the nematodes have reduced the breeding adults so that they will not lay eggs.


While I can understand the agonizing that many of us undergo when attempting to produce food that is grown with as few human made chemicals as possible, we must be reasonable. The slug and snail pellet ferric phosphate FePO₄ is indeed an inorganic chemical. All this means, in chemical terms, is that it does not contain carbon. The confusion comes when we apply the term organic to horticulture. Organic in biology means related to life or organisms. If we replace the metal iron with the metal calcium in this compound then we get a major component of bones – calcium phosphate which, although making bones, is an inorganic chemical. Does this mean that the strict advocate of organic gardening should not use blood fish and bone as a fertilizer? I don't think so.

I would rather not use ferric phosphate as a slug and snail killer because I would rather remove as many slugs as I can by hand – gloved if possible. There is little evidence about the effect that ferric phosphate has on other soil organisms and is probably best avoided if you are trying to be organic – as in the biological meaning of the word. 

A tidy allotment or garden is also a good deterrent.  If there is no habitat for the molluscs to live in then there will be many fewer of them.


If you are going for the hand collection method, it is easier if you use traps like upturned flower pots, upturned orange or grapefruit skins or planks of wood.  I have seen people use newspaper soaked in sugar solution and covered with a plank to attract slugs and snails.  Other people do not use these methods of trapping because they think that it attracts slugs and snails.  I use them regardless.  


I really don't think that the rough, sharp surfaces idea works.  This involves putting crushed egg shells, course sand, soot or nut shells around sensitive plants.  It would seem, although I have not seen any evidence for this, that slugs and snails do not like crawling over surfaces laced with sharp or rough surfaces.  However, it is always worth a try especially if you are overwhelmed with a surfeit of broken egg shells.  


There are several natural predators of slugs and snails.  The ground beetle is one of them and I go around looking under logs and stones to try to catch as many of these as I can to put onto the allotment.  They will need a home to live in such as under planks of wood.  I have put loads of toads on the allotment but I can never get them to stay.  I have actually seen a toad eat a slug.  Toads have remarkably long tongues.  I would love to have both hedgehogs and slow worms on the allotment but sadly I have never had that luxury.  Thrushes used to be the very best snail predator.  They have used paving slabs on the allotment as their anvil  to break open snail shells.  Anything that will attract natural predators will help in the control of slugs and snails.  


Beer contains organic chemicals. You could use this as a trap because slugs and snails seem to be attracted to it. I have heard that you can make a diluted honey and yeast mix  to trap slugs and snails as well.  There are other recipes such as sugar, flour and yeast, or just sugar and yeast.  I am going to try dark brown sugar and yeast.  Also, it seems, milk has a similar effect on slugs and snails.  I am going to try this one.  


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOFWBxU4nVM&feature=channel_page


I have never used copper rings to prevent slugs from reaching plants.  There is some evidence from heliculture that this is a way of preventing slug escape leading to the suggestion that copper rings might keep slugs and snails away from choice plants.   The most that we can say is that copper bands will delay the movement of slugs and snails because after just one hour 25% of slugs had crossed the barrior in research. 

I have experimented this year with beer traps and they have been very effective.  The poor animals drown in the beer.  When they seem to have gone over, I add the contents of the beer traps to the charcoal bins.   Next year I will cover the traps to prevent rain from overflowing them. (I have done this with bricks June 2011)


There is a lot of evidence that coffee grounds are well worth while putting onto your compost heap.


http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Coffee%20grounds.pdf


There is little evidence that coffee grounds will deter slugs.


There is some evidence that caffeine does have an effect on slugs, however I would expect that you have already dissolved most caffeine out of your coffee beans before it gets anywhere near your garden slugs.  Together with rain and general dampness of the ground, I would suggest that this is a very ineffective way of combating slugs and snails. Have a look at this:


http://www.paghat.com/coffeeslugs.html

Research in USA suggested that spraying a solution of 2% pure caffeine would prevent slug attack.


http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/coffee-grounds-and-gardening.html#ixzz0pu8orKDX


So don’t drink your coffee, spray it on your plants and even then you cannot guarantee it will be strong enough to have an effect.  


Using the well tried and tested ways of gloved hand picking, nematodes and beer traps seem to be the only effective ways for the organic gardener to rid the allotment of these pesky animals. 

Out of control allotments (2)

 

If you think that I am going to give you a list of quick ways of controlling a weedy allotment then this is not for you.  Turning an allotment around, whether it is new or has been allowed to get overgrown, is not an easy project.  It will take time and commitment.  There are some fairly quick ways that will take a year at the most.  

•         Double dig with skimming.  This is where you divide the plot into two parallel areas.  Skim off, about a turf thickness of weeds, from one area and leave in a pile. Take out a trench one spade width wide where you have skimmed off the weeds and leave the top soil and first spit of subsoil on the other area.  Take the next trench top soil out and leave this on the pile in the other area too.  This will give you steps. In  the first (yellow) trench fork the bottom so that you go down another possibly 30cm.  

 

• Place upturned weed turfs along the bottom of the first trench (yellow) and cover with the next trench’s subsoil (light brown).   Complete this trench by putting the next trench’s top soil on top (brown).  Now you have got steps again.  Fork the bottom of the deepest trench, skim off some more weed turfs and put them at the bottom of the trench and cover with subsoil.  Add manure or compost if you have any and the next trench’s topsoil goes on top of this.  Continue until you reach the side of the area then go over to the adjacent area to get top soil and subsoil to fill the trenches.  You will dig trenches on the new area so that you can work backwards towards the piles of soil you took out of the first trenches. 
• Try and get as many of the perennials, such as couch grass and dock, out of the skimmed soil so they do not regrow.  I reckon that they will come back no matter how diligent you are at removing stolons and tap roots so be prepared to have to weed out regrowth after  a couple of months.  If you carefully cover the skimmed off weed turfs with subsoil then with top soil, there is very little regrowth because they are buried so deep.  Persistent perennials do not like to be disturbed so if you continue to dig and fork the ground removing the roots, they will eventually die away.  It will be time consuming and hard but if you want a good allotment you have to do it so get over it.

The 2nd February 1982.  My allotment when I was skim and double digging it.

• Digging is the best way to clear the ground, put air into compacted soils, help with drainage and introduce some organic matter to produce some nutrients.   It’s not easy and it is hard work.  It is one of the most effective ways of getting an allotment into producing good vegetables relatively quickly. 

•  Cover the ground with thick black plastic; the second method.  This prevents light from reaching the plants and they are effectively starved to death.  Several drawbacks include; it’s an expensive method unless you can cadge, scrounge or beg some; the plastic must be weighted down effectively so it does not blow about and fall on my allotment; storing it when it is not in use (you will need big pieces that will blow about onto my allotment if it's not very carefully folded up and put into a shed where it cannot do any damage to other peoples’ allotments); and finally it seems to attract hundreds of slugs and snails that seem to migrate onto my allotment and end up eating my vegetables rather than yours.  Some people use little pieces of plastic, cardboard, newspaper and carpets.  They soon find that plants will grow around the edges, through holes and anywhere light reaches the ground.  And finally, I have not found anything more effective than carpets to attract rats onto the allotment.  You might be thinking that I am not too keen on this method, however I am using some tarpaulin at this very moment for the very first time.  Needless to say, it is weighed down by the parts of an old concrete sundial, several concrete slabs and some full plant pots SO IT DOES NOT BLOW ONTO ANYONE ELSES ALLOTMENT. 

• The third way involves chemicals and you have got to ask yourself why you are growing your own vegetables.  If it to grow organically, so you can give your family vegetables that are not contaminated, then you have to avoid this method of clearing an allotment.  If it is not, I am not going to encourage you by telling what chemicals to use or how to use them.  Sort it out for yourself.   

Good looking allotment

Lime Hawk moth. 

I have now weeded the whole of the allotment and I must admit that it looks quite good. I have dug all the green manure into the brassica bed and limed it. It is all ready for me to put the brassica seedlings in. I will plant them and water in with comfrey and worm tea mixture next weekend.
I planted out the runner beans with a terra preta type mixture of charcoal, blood fish and bone, comfrey, worm tea and sugar (molases). They seem to like this. Anyway it does not seem to be doing them any harm. I was thinking of putting some bush beans under the canes but this is pointless. Every time I plant something under the beans it performs very badly or dies. This year I am going to leave it free of plants and see how the runners perform. I have planted Aintree and Red Rum. Both have charcoal under them so there will be no comparison to see whether the charcoal has had any effect. I dont mind because I think that it will anyway and I have enough other experiments on the go to compare. I will talk about these later.

I went along weeding the sweet peas tying them up as I went. The poached egg plant that I planted as a companion plant seems to be liking the charcoal because it is very big this year. Several of the plants have died or are on their last legs because they were affected by the cold winter(they were planted in October). I have some more to replace them though. Most of the plants are growing very well and I have had to tie them up three times.
The lupins planted as nitrogen fixers are growing well. I will let them flower as they are the garden variety. I just want to see what colours they will produce.

The tulips flowered very well and now have dropped their petals. I will take them out later and separate out all the large bulbs. The small ones I will grow on in pots and replant the large bulbs.

The garlic and the onions still seem to be surviving even though I think that they might be affected by the dreded onion fly. I am hoping that the very cold winter has affected them and they will not eat all of my onions. I weeded inbetween them with the onion hoe - a very useful tool. I was thinking of putting some chicken pellets on them as well but I haven't yet.

Now this is important and something to contemplate Tone. I thought that several of the broad beans had not germinated. Now, I could have replanted because I still have some in the packet (which I will plant elsewhere), however all of them seem to have germinated now. It goes to show that you need to wait and see...

It cannot be the terra preta so it is probably the mychorrhizal fungi that is making the sweet cicerly grow so big. I want the mychorrhiza to infect the rhubarb so that I get better stems but it does not seem to have the same effect on the rhubarb. But remember the broad beans Tone. You might be surprised.

Potatoes are growing well. They did get caught by the late frosts this year but I have been hoeing them up with a vengence so they were not badly affected. Before hoeing up, I put some of the terra preta charcoal mix along the rows. I hoed up with the three pronged cultivator tool. I bought a completely metal one last year and it is ideal for hoeing up the potatoes. Loads of pot marigold seedlings were growing in the potatoes so I took them out and put them in a line down the side of this plot. I should have planted them with mychorrhizal fungi but I didn't so they are really only for decoration. Nice yellow plants anyway.

Strawberries are growing well. I do hope noone pinches them when they start to fruit because they are right by the trackway. Am I being selfish? I do love to eat them straight from the plants though. They will come in the next few weeks unless the frost has killed the flowers. I must admit the Thompson's Turkish Delight - if that is their name, are much bigger than the Cambridge. I think that they are bigger plants anyway but they were planted with both charcoal mix and mychorrhizal fungi.

I have planted a line of red iceburg lettuce next to the strawberries. For every plant I have put a beer trap in a plastic cup to keep the slugs off. They are infinitely better than slug pellets and they catch - or these ones have- great numbers of both slugs and snails. I was quite supprised when I checked them. I will leave them until they become very stale and then add them to the charcoal mix.

I have enviromesh over the carrots althought they are Fly Away. It is a bit of a bind having to take it off to weed but it does pay dividens when you crop them. I took the mesh off - or one side of it - so that I could weed them. They looked very sparse when I had completed the weeding. However, I always plant too many and never seem to have time to thin them out so I get far too many small to medium sized roots. This year, after sowing them very thinly, I am hoping to get much bigger roots or that is the theory. Similarly with the parsnips. Last year I got some really good ones but they were just average size for me. This year I planted thinly and I will continue to thin them out so that I get some really big ones.

The beetroot are fine and that is a good thing because they have been devastated in the previous two years by slugs. I have put two beer traps down now to keep them off. It seems to be working well.

I did not think that I would, but remarkably, I have raspberries. Even the ones that I planted in the winter have buds and probably will have fruit. I may be disappointed but I don't think so. The ones that I planted last year seem to be really growing well. They did have mychorrhizal fungi but no charcoal. I love raspberries straight from the bush - there is nothing better in the world.

I planted out three rows of Early Onward peas close to the path. I put the thick wire ends in with the silver birch poles tied in with garden wire. I will put chicken wire around them to grow up and if they go over the chicken wire, like they did last year, I will use string to keep them upright tied to the birch poles. I will put the poles every two feet and tie in the chicken wire with garden wire.

I put terra preta charcoal under half the peas so, as I said earlier, I will be able to see if there is any difference between the ends of the rows.

I have a few good winter cauliflowers. I just wish they would come a bit quicker because I need the ground to put another row of Early Onward and Hurst Green Shaft peas in. I will look at them at the weekend and take out as many cauliflowers as I can. They do have a little clubroot so I will take them home and put them into the green bin rather than put them onto the compost heap. A good year for cauliflowers this year.

The overflow potatoes are doing as well as I expected on the new "council" soil. The soil in this part of the allotment was replaced by the council because they found that it was polluted with some foul chemical. The trouble is that they replaced the soil with some very infertile soil that looked more like subsoil than top soil. Still that is by the by. I thought poor soil ... Ah! grapes. I took my two grapes down and planted them in this soil. The black one is thriving but the white one died and I have taken out. I need to put supports in for the black grape - well I wasn't going to do anything with them until I saw that they were growing.

On the same soil, can you believe, I have planted some climbing french beans. The soil might be rubbish but I thought that this would be a good test for the terra preta charcoal mix. I have planted each of the beans with a good dose of charcoal. We will see if this has an effect. I was also going to plant some bush beans in the middle without the charcoal and see if there is any difference. The slugs are eating some of the plants so I put in several new beer traps to try to stop them. We will see if they are as effective as the other ones.

I cropped the 5 lines of comfrey and put them in the digester butt. I am hoping that it will provide a lot of comfrey liquid because I really need some more now. The worm butt is really producing a lot of worm tea now so this is being used instead of comfrey at the moment.

The allotment secretary asked me to dig out a mound of compost which was infested with couch grass and bindweed. He did not have to ask me twice. I saw what the old tenant of that allotment had put on his compost. Dug it out together with some of the couch grass and put it into my pallet bins. Towards the bottom of the heaps was some fantastic compost. I put that in the bins as well. Now I have three 4 foot cubed bins full of really good compost. In the first I am going to put black courgettes, in the second I will put ridge cucumbers and in the third I will put pumpkins. However, if the squashes come that planting arrangement may alter and the courgettes may get planted somewhere else.

I bought some new rhubarb this year called Champagne. My old rhubarb, which is quite a late one, I found on the allotment when I took it over 27 years ago. I have no idea what variety it is so I decided to buy a new variety and see if it does any better than the old one. I really want an earier one. I planted the Champagne with mychorrhizal fungi but no charcoal. Having said that, I did also put a load of good well rotted compost in the planting hole with them. I am expecting great things from them but not this year.

The Jerusalem Artichokes are growing well, which means that someone will be annoyed on the allotment because they always lean over the carpark. They are hemmed in by the compost bins and the new next door neighbour's shed so they really are under control - almost. They are a really serious vegetable though.

Well that's it for the moment. I will be busy planting out the brassicas, more peas and the curbits as soon as I can. That may not be as soon as necessary things being as they are...
Never mind.
Writing this has taken my mind off other things and is good therupy Tone.