I think there's a nematode approved specifically for what you describe.
don't know anyhtinkg else tho.
Now at last I have gotten into the habit of walking around in the garden
just to look for killer slugs, and am sorry to say that in some places I
find one every inch!!!
Carol, what do these slugs kill that ordinary slugs don't? Thanks, Margaret L
Some people take great delight in a squirt bottle filled with equal parts of
ammonia and water or vinegar and water. Both are quite lethal to slugs.
Reuse, Recycle or Rot
Only Mother Nature is a Master Gardener
just to look for killer slugs, and am sorry to say that in some places I
find one every inch!!! This is in the north 40, which is very lush and
overgrown in July, giving ideal conditions for slugs at soil surface.
> Have the Irish devised some organic way of ridding oneself of these? I'm
rather sure that coffee grounds won't help, as they glide across the gravel
to access two flower beds in the gravel area. This is sharp sand and must be
worse than coffee grounds, one would think.
> Trouble is, traps like water and oil in a glass dug down gets all kinds of
snails, and it is only the one we want to rid ourselves of.
> Otherwise I am in the middle of berry picking, almost through
strawberries, half through black currants and gooseberries, just started on
raspberries and red currants. Freezer filling up.
Now at last I have gotten into the habit of walking around in the garden just to look for killer slugs, and am sorry to say that in some places I find one every inch!!! This is in the north 40, which is very lush and overgrown in July, giving ideal conditions for slugs at soil surface.
Have the Irish devised some organic way of ridding oneself of these? I'm rather sure that coffee grounds won't help, as they glide across the gravel to access two flower beds in the gravel area. This is sharp sand and must be worse than coffee grounds, one would think.
Trouble is, traps like water and oil in a glass dug down gets all kinds of snails, and it is only the one we want to rid ourselves of.
Otherwise I am in the middle of berry picking, almost through strawberries, half through black currants and gooseberries, just started on raspberries and red currants. Freezer filling up.
Carol
When I had written that email and closed the computer, it was about 8:30 and I walked outside a bit and filled a jelly glass to the rim. At 9:00 I took another walk and filled another three-quarters full.
If someone knows an URL for nematoder, I will be very grateful! This is just too much. I can collect them, but I cannot bring myself to pour boiling water over them, and my daughter is very busy these days, as she will be moving soon.
Tomorrow early I will bike down and get some large jars from the glass container. Then a bit of cleaning and my Iraqi friends arrive to visit me. It's supposed to be pure sun all day, no clouds at all.
Carol
Apparently when they get going, they will eat your entire garden including trees and bushes. So far they are okay, even though there are so many. They started on the weeds, you see!
Carol
--- Carol Jensen
Carol - For what it's worth...see link below for suggestions on
controlling slugs.
http://www.life.ca/nl/44/slugs.html
Evelyn
zone 6 MO
Ammonia and water or vinegar and water would not bother your vegetables or
your soil. In fact they would fertilize and improve your soil.
Reuse, Recycle or Rot
Only Mother Nature is a Master Gardener
of
> ammonia and water or vinegar and water. Both are quite lethal to slugs.
> Unfortunately this would be lethal to everything, including my vegetables.
Remember, we are quite partial to all our other snails and slugs (we have
only the "cellar slug" in our garden, but there are some in the forest just
as beautiful as the killer slug, just black.)
garden
> just to look for killer slugs, and am sorry to say that in some places I
> find one every inch!!! This is in the north 40, which is very lush and
> overgrown in July, giving ideal conditions for slugs at soil surface.
> Have the Irish devised some organic way of ridding oneself of these?
I'm
> rather sure that coffee grounds won't help, as they glide across the
gravel
> to access two flower beds in the gravel area. This is sharp sand and must
be
> worse than coffee grounds, one would think.
> Trouble is, traps like water and oil in a glass dug down gets all kinds
of
> snails, and it is only the one we want to rid ourselves of.
> Otherwise I am in the middle of berry picking, almost through
> strawberries, half through black currants and gooseberries, just started
on
nematode is sold here as nemaslug but I don't think its available in
Denmark yet. This particular Irish garden gets patrolled every evening with
a pair of scissors
kathryn
> Some people take great delight in a squirt bottle filled with equal parts of
> ammonia and water or vinegar and water. Both are quite lethal to slugs.
Unfortunately this would be lethal to everything, including my vegetables. Remember, we are quite partial to all our other snails and slugs (we have only the "cellar slug" in our garden, but there are some in the forest just as beautiful as the killer slug, just black.)
Carol
Full strength vinegar acts as a herbicide, Bill. Even diluted, it might
not be great for veggies. Why don't you post your MIL's experience with
visiting you and tasting your elderberry wine for the first time? I think
that's a wonderful story. Margaret L
Kathryn Marsh wrote:
Carol
it seems to me if you want to protect the rest of your mollusc
population there is not a thing you can do (apart maybe from ringing
special plants with coffee grounds) to get rid of killer slugs except
dealing with them individually, as virtually not treatment, nemaodes
included, is going to be able to differentate between the ones you don't
want (the "killers") and the ones you prefer to tolerate (everything
else).
And regarding the action of coffee grounds I am not myself quite sure
how these operate. The first information that stimulated me to try them
was actually not about the grounds at all, but actually freshly-brewed
coffee and from that I got the idea the caffein might be acting as a
poison. However feeling that fresh coffee was a bit too expensive to use
as a snail control I thought I would instead try the grounds, hoping
that remaing traces of caffein or whatever might be enough to still be
effective. As we all now know this seems to have been correct. At least
something in the grounds seems to be able to do the trick.
As to how the coffee works, my jury is still out on that. I don't think
it can be a simple matter of poisoning as I have found no trace of
corpses around my protected plants. On the other hand I doubt it is just
mechanical protection like sawdust or grit, as I don't think the texture
is all that rough. My best guess so far is that it is simply a repellent
and the creatures find it so distastful they simply shear of when the
encounter it.
I am just grateful that something so safe and easy to obtain seems to
work so effectively.
And of course there is the added bonus that it will at the same time
provde a small amount of feed for the plants - very economical all
round!
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
Thanks, but these are the tips we get on this list. My daughter put down a glass with beer and the wrong kind got drowned!
Now I am up to three or four per inch! Gotta read these emails fast and go out and catch some! Trouble is, the sun won't set for quite a while and after a day of rain it has gotten hot!
Carol
I couldn't do that! I even have to call my daughter up to get her to pour hot boiling water on all the slugs I have assembled. Don't want them to suffer before they die!
And I go somewhere else while she does it, too. Later I pour the dead slugs on the compost and feel bad...
Carol
