Dealing With Slugs and Snails
The response to "10 Ways To Go Organic" has been overwhelming, with emails from all over the world asking for advice on how to deal with everything from mildew on vines to rampant perennial weeds. It is exciting to know that there exist so many organic gardeners who are choosing this route over conventional methods, especially when starting out in horticulture.
Good news, then. But among the correspondence one subject outbids all others for attention: how to deal with slugs and snails. The slimy ones cause more anguish for gardeners than anything else, so it is to their control that I'm devoting this week's space.
A wet spring and early summer can prove devastating for certain crops so I would emphasise vigilance and determination in pursuit of the quarry. Don't lose heart. However few you manage to hunt out and find will be some headway. A well-mulched and fed garden with a humus-rich soil and plenty of organic matter about the place is a natural paradise for these offenders, so their presence is hardly surprising.
Most of the trouble is caused by three pests in particular: the garden snail (Helix aspera), the field slug (Derocerus reticulatum) and the keel slug (Tandonia budapestensis). Of these the keel slug is, in my opinion, the worst offender. Noticeable by the distinct ridge running the length of its back and reaching a size of 10cm, this brown slug fools many gardeners because it lives in the soil rather than under stones or in dank corners.
It is generally smaller than the field, garden and black slugs - but don't be fooled. This is the one that needs clobbering. Beer traps will kill a few, as will some scattered bran, the use of copper tools puts them off and upturned grapefruit halves will also collect some for later dispatch. Leaving dead and decaying vegetable matter such as lettuce leaves on the soil surface will attract them, from where they can be collected by hand. However, none of these tricks and traps will dent the population in the average sized garden.
This article originally appeared in the Telegraph on 23/06/2007. link