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Thu, Feb 17, 11 at 10:24
| I have a slug problem, which is common where I live. I've got lots of them in my compost pile, and it's never bothered me because...well...it's the compost pile. I screen it before adding it to my beds.
But then I started wondering. Even screened and absent of visible slugs, could the compost be filled with eggs that I'm transferring to my veggie beds? If so, what do you do about that? |
Here is a link that might be useful: my garden blog
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Thu, Feb 17, 11 at 11:12
| I Love Your Blog ;-) Slugs Suck ! ! I have my starts going too..... I also wanted them bigger, by the time I put them out. You are funny ;-) |
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| Thanks Jon! I thought we used to have links to our blogs on our profile pages, but they aren't there anymore. :-( I'm experimenting with adding it to my posts manually (when I remember). It was always a kick for me to have the occasional GardenWeb member stop in and say hi once in a while. Though I'm still wondering if my compost is a slug maternity ward. That technicality might actually cause me to stop composting entirely, as the slug battle is a tough one around here. I understand that I can add chopped leaves directly to my beds, anyway. |
Here is a link that might be useful: My Blog
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Thu, Feb 17, 11 at 12:41
| Personally, I don't think adding chopped leaves is going to produce the results you are looking for... They will be more abundant....not less ;-( I think you just have to "man-up" and spray Sevin, they will die, and you will win. There has to be a trade-off somewhere, you are doing everything right, your soil is healthy,you pamper your garden,but you live in Slug Country. As I told a previous poster, if you want to stay organic, you could try putting up a handmade wooden sign that says "NO SLUGS". But in my opinion,they won't heed the warning... Kill them all... Take no prisoners...Sevin them to death ;-) |
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| LOL Jon! |
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| The UK climate makes for slug heaven but I would NEVER EVER abandon composting because of slugs. Certainly adding the stuff direct to the garden would not help. Slugs come in many types. Some eat living plants, some eat decaying plants. And some eat other slugs. Just to confuse matters some eat both living and decaying stuff. I would carry on composting and wait for evidence that there is a problem in the garden. Slug eggs are whitish globules in clusters and are quite easy to spot. Especially if you are a bird. When you spread compost on your garden the local avians will be watching. Either that or the sun will dry them out. I would stop worrying. |
Here is a link that might be useful: slug eggs
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| Thanks for the link, Flora! And the reassurance. |
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| You guys must have a relatively safe slug pellet available? I reckon slugs enjoy my mulch even more than my compost, and there's absolutely no way I'd stop using either! |
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| Yes, there's Sluggo, which is certified organic and one of my closest garden friends. But there are some vegetables, such as bok choi, that the slugs will kick aside the bait to get to. I've resorted to running out on rainy days with my needle nose pliers and hand picking them off my plants. I work very hard at keeping my beds slug free, which is why it occurred to me that I wouldn't want to dump a bunch of compost in my beds if it was filled with baby slug eggs. Especially when I can buy it steralized. But thanks to the links, I know what slug eggs look like, so I'll probably just keep an eye out as I'm screening it. |
Here is a link that might be useful: my blog
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| I thought I had the worst slug problem in the world, but no! Mine are majorly addicted to chilli plants. I pick any slugs I see out of the heap, but I've never gone any further. All hail your local avian gastropod patrol. |
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| Sounds like you are in good hands! John, the sign will work if you teach the slugs to read.:-)LOL Some slugs & snails eat rotten plant matter & not live plants, flora is right, they are nesting there. On another Blog they swear by Sluggo. |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Thu, Feb 17, 11 at 20:46
| I tried to teach them to read....but no.... they just laid there...being slugs and yes, to stay organic,you could try SluggoPLUS totally certified Organic It has worked for me, but not as good as Sevin ;-) |
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| Slugs eat organic matter, mostly dead and decaying organic matter but they will eat living plants and compost and mulches can provide the ideal environment for slugs to exist. The slugs in my well mulched planting beds seem to prefer the mulch to the living plants since I seldom see much damage on those plants from slugs. A couple of garter snakes and some toads seem to help keep the slug population under control. |
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| Copper is often recommended to deter slugs and it is good for special plants and containers. But it is expensive and impractical on the scale I would need. The down side of having a climate which rarely requires irrigation is that the garden is more or less permanently damp. As I said - slug heaven. And snails too in most areas. kimmsr - there are lots of species of slug and many do eat living plants. They can mow down an entire row of seedlings in a night. Maybe you haven't come across the little black ones that appear in February and eat only the yellow part of each daffodil as it comes up. Then they move on to the hyacinths. |
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- Posted by burra_maluca (My Page) on Sat, Feb 19, 11 at 6:34
| I've posted a link to a video about using snakes to control slugs by providing suitable snake habitat for them to move in. Apparently, some slug-eating snakes like hibernating in compost piles, especially plastic covered ones that aren't turned often, so compost might actually *reduce* your slug problem. |
Here is a link that might be useful: organic slug control - with snakes
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- Posted by vermontkingdom 4a (My Page) on Sat, Feb 19, 11 at 7:50
| Thanks tj for background information on Sluggo. I wish I had read it earlier since I just purchased two pounds of it from Johnny's. I grow most of our veggies in raised beds. Two years ago I used a lot of mulch in the walkways between the beds. What a mistake. I had slugs everywhere. Last year I didn't use mulch and that helped but I still fought minor slug battles. Some years we've been fortunate to have a couple large toads patrolling out there but not recently. If I suggested to my wife we should improve the garden habitat for snakes, that would likely be the end of my 41 year marriage! |
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| Yeah, Vermontkingdom, I hate to admit, but the day I find a snake in my compost is the last day I compost! The idea that they eat slugs does tempt me to try to get over my phobia, though. |
Here is a link that might be useful: my blog
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