How Does Your Garden Grow?

[DAPPH]

Well...the runner and dwarf beans SWMBO planted in pots have been fairly decimated by the b'stards! Found two snails under the rim of one pot then a big fat slug on the ground when I moved the pots.

View attachment 349159

Doesn't bode well for when the 50 go in the ground

That looks like bird damage , plus I can't see any slime trails

 

[DAPPH]

Nope, too many slow worms, birds, hedge hogs etc.

You only need one slug pellet per four square inches of plant pot top area in the plant pot to keep them down , put them on damp soil not soaking wet soil or super dry soil .

 

[DanZac]

While we're talking about slugs, has anyone tried Nematodes or had any experience of using them?

I've bitten the bullet and am giving it a try on my Allotment this year after previously relying on slug pellets.
Watered then in as per instructions last weekend, so I'll report back with any findings.

Slug Nematodes, Nemaslug 40 sqm

Enhance Nematode Performance with Nema-Quick Learn More

www.gardening-naturally.com

 

[Onoff]

That looks like bird damage , plus I can't see any slime trails

In some respects I'd agree with you but I found an actual slug on the dwarf bean leaves tonight.

 

[JimmyS]

Bloody pigeons eating our dwarf beans for sure. They recon putting more string across puts them off as don't like walking through it. They are also stripping the cherry trees and the plum tree, I haven't got a rifle any more to deter them. Been thinking of fixing up something pyrotechnic to scare the bloody things off.

I tried nematodes last year as my potatoes were getting destroyed with slugs and was too late to put pellets down. Seemed to work ok. I havent seen as many this year.

 

[Kram]

Blackbirds are good at slugs. They have a habbit of wiping them on concrete step, I assume it gets rid of some slime? Tits, sparrows and robins seem a bit more fussy.

Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Morris]

While we're talking about slugs, has anyone tried Nematodes or had any experience of using them?

I've bitten the bullet and am giving it a try on my Allotment this year after previously relying on slug pellets.
Watered then in as per instructions last weekend, so I'll report back with any findings.

Slug Nematodes, Nemaslug 40 sqm

Enhance Nematode Performance with Nema-Quick Learn More

www.gardening-naturally.com

We use nematodes. We had a slug problem that used to look like a horror film at night.
We never see them now. One dose of nematodes around the end of April keeps them away.

 

[Onoff]

If I buy/make some beer traps, then presumably there'll be a dish full of dead / drunk slugs in the morning. These beer soaked slugs.....leave them in a dish for the birds, badger?

Visions of blackbirds careering into windows or lairy badgers going on the rampage!

 

[Morris]

These are the puppies

 

[Bornfree]

As my garden is all lawn. Here's a picture of the field behind my garden not a bad view at the moment.

 

[DAPPH]

While we're talking about slugs, has anyone tried Nematodes or had any experience of using them?

I've bitten the bullet and am giving it a try on my Allotment this year after previously relying on slug pellets.
Watered then in as per instructions last weekend, so I'll report back with any findings.

Slug Nematodes, Nemaslug 40 sqm

Enhance Nematode Performance with Nema-Quick Learn More

www.gardening-naturally.com

Used them twice a year for five years . None used the last two years.
Not a slug insight , seems the nematodes build up has worked and the very few slugs that appeared soon get devoured by hungry nematodes. Outside of the beds I'm slugging it out as normal

The don't work on snails , I'm over run with them , Yesterday I must have hoiked out 40 or more out of 2 off 16 sq/ft veg beds when I cleared out the old brassicas in flower & flowering unused leeks .


Found a few slugs in the compost heaps so am thinking of treating each heap ( seven Dalek bins ) with Nemaslug in August .

 

[Onoff]

Sleepers finally in level to coral the slugs! Gave the top a wire brush then my lad painted it with some No Nonsense brown wood treatment.

We cut all the 25mm box for the frame. The Scheppach bandsaw is cutting a bit off but hey ho. These'll get the ends de-burred then a sand and quick coat with some of Lidl's finest black paint

Net and 3D printed connectors all ready.

 

[Seadog]

As I think I pointed out. It's all very well stopping incomers, but it's the eggs that have been laid in the soil that defeat you.

 

[Onoff]

I wish I hadn't tipped that two Christmas's worth of God awful chilli beer down the drain now!

 

[4String.]

As I think I pointed out. It's all very well stopping incomers, but it's the eggs that have been laid in the soil that defeat you.

And one of the active ingredient in slug pellets is Metaldehyde which causes acute poisoning in birds, cats, dogs, other animals, and will ultimately enter the water system...

Yet another example of humankind damaging the very planet that sustains it

 

[Keith 66]

Poxy Spider mites, started getting them on the chillies late in the season, september & onwards, then last year they got on my wifes french beans & we didnt notice so they got too far gone & had to be burnt.
Then next door tells me he has had them for 3 years already & also his brother who lives behind us. So basically they are now endemic. We got them on Mint, Oregano, Laksa leaf plants, everything.
Chem warfare sprays are largely inefectual & the only thing that had some effect was Neem oil.
I have just released Phytoselulus mites into the greenhouse so will see what happens, but biological controls are not cheap.
With carriage & vat its over £27 for a 1000 of the little critters so im hoping they find the spider mites tasty & breed!

 

[Onoff]

All the 25mm frame steel cut to length, sanded / flapped and given one coat (badly), of Lidl's finest black with a 4" foam roller. This in my ad hoc paint booth...

Can't do much about internal rust. Just shoved a rotary wire brush up each open end. This so hopefully the 3D connectors will shove in without too much grief. There's a few factory holes along each length, at least it'll drain freely!

 

[Onoff]

What can I lube the PETG connectors up with, to ease them in, that won't affect them adversely and maybe protect the steel a bit?

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Debur the box section, then tappy-tap-tap to get them nice and tight?

 

[Anguz]

Don't think metaldehyd is still allowed to be used?