Monday 11 August 2008

Slug proof salad?

With all the damp weather this summer there have been loads of slugs. The soil at my allotment is quite stony and well drained and in a dry summer slugs don't cause much of a problem. This year they have caused a lot of damage and although I would rather not, I have had to resort to using slug pellets. I have been using these slug pellets which are suitable for organic gardening and have the soil association symbol. Since I have used the pellets the slug damage has been reduced but as the picture of my red oakleaf lettuce shows the slugs are still having a good meal at my expense.



I was annoyed to see the damage and then I noticed the small seedling right next to the munched lettuce - its a very tiny lambs lettuce. Looking around I found several more of varying sizes and there doesn't seem to be any sign of slug damage.


Last summers lambs lettuce set seed which germinated in the autumn but didn't really start growing until the spring. I was picking the leaves in mid March. This year the germination is much earlier and it looks as if I will be picking leaves this summer. I don't know whether slugs will eat lambs lettuce but at the moment they seem to be leaving it alone.
So it looks as if the main constituent of my salads will be lambs lettuce rather than my favourite red oakleaf. It makes more sense to eat what I can grow easily rather than struggle to grow slug food!

5 comments:

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

I had slug issues for the first year as well! Luckily I have chickens so I had tons of eggshells to use. I also resorted to going out early in the morning and gathering up any snails I found. The ducks at the duck pond sure were happy to get them! Gross but effective.

Simply Authentic said...

Ugh, slugs are always a pain here in the PNW of the US. Especially anytime I'm living on the coast. They say that beer drowns them and that cracked hazelnut shells detracts them, but they are still hearty little suckers. Hopefully they will leave the lambs lettuce alone! It's unfortunate they seem to be so fond of your favorite though...

willow said...

I will try using eggshells around a few plants and see if I have any sucess. My allotment is one and a half miles from home and so not very convenient for physically removing slugs in the evenings. Perhaps we will have some dry weather which should reduce the problem.

Moonroot said...

Slugs are a huge problem here in Wales as I'm sure you can imagine!

The best method of deterring them that I've found (though nothing seems completely foolproof) is to cut 'rings' from plastic drinks bottles and then stick a strip of adhesive copper tape (available from most garden centres) around the top of them. Apparently the copper gives slugs a mild electric shock when they try to cross it. I put these collars around young plants and about 95% of the time it keeps them safe (as long as there's no overhanging vegetation or other bridges that the slugs can sneak across on). The copper tape isn't cheap (about £5-6 per roll) but the collars can be re-used over and over again, and they are the best protection method I've come across so far. Without them I wouldn't be able to grow lettuces (or lots of other things) at all!

willow said...

Moonroot

Thanks for the tip about the copper. I've aeen it used on containers but hadn't thought to use it for plants growing in open ground. I will try your method.