Yesterday before my trip out to Saffron Walden I put my climbing french beans out. Out of 10 beans planted only 4 had grown (I think I over-watered).
Yesterday evening after it was dark I went out to check for snails. As it had been raining I found lots, including one eating a leaf of one of the runner beans.
This morning out checking again I found two tiny snails crawling round the rim of a slug collar, the bit that is supposed to be a barrier, but they are so small it didn't work.
As a vegan I always feel guilty about killing snails and slugs. They are just trying to live their lives as they are intended to. In my front garden I leave them alone and put in only plants I think that can survive slugs and snails (and don't need watering). But I grow vegetables, and even now salad vegetables are impossible to grow.
When I had the allotment there were less slugs and snails and I used to put them into my sieve and take them off site into some waste ground. It would be a long way to go to find my nearest waste ground now and not practical when in damp weather in summer I am checking twice a day.
I cut them in half, which is a quick death for them and harms no birds. But I still feel guilty. I did hear about laying down bran which, when I first read about sounded if it killed them, which sounds a horrid death. However, something I read recently made it sound as if it filled them up.......
Stale beer also kills them. I have used it before. You put it in a yoghurt pot sunk into the soil, and put a rock or two over the top to stop the rain getting into it, the slugs are attracted by the smell of beer, they drink it, presumably get slug drunk and then they die. I used to use it myself, but I don't now. I must admit that though I don't like slugs and snails, I do feel guilty about killing them. If you are not squeamish about picking them up, you could put them in the compost heap. I suspect that they do some good in there, and they may even have evolved to help the breakdown of organic matter, but got out of hand.
ReplyDeleteOften out on a damp evening I find slugs and snails crawling down the outside of my compost bin. On a damp morning they are climbing up. I think they use the compost as a place to rest up during the day!
ReplyDeleteI've used the bran option and found it pretty successful. My understanding is they eat it and it kills them by absorbing moisture (i.e. dehydrating them). Yes, gruesome, but cheap (if you buy bran intended as horse feed by the sack), non-toxic and it breaks down harmlessly contributing humus to the soil. It is, however, less effective in wet weather as it absorbs rain so by the time they eat it, it's harmless to them. I've never found beer traps especially effective. The nematode stuff you can buy is good but expensive, the copper tape is good (I cut down plastic drinks bottles to make 'collars' with copper tape round the top for vulnerable plants like lettuce) but again not cheap. A nightly slug patrol is definitely effective, but I feel guilty squashing them. If I catch any during the day I feed them to the chickens, who thoroughly enjoy them so I feel less guilty! There doesn't seem to be a perfect solution...
ReplyDeleteI have used copper tape on pots - but you need to keep the pots apart from each other so they don't use a plant as a bridge. I find it really amazing how a snail with a heavy shell can "walk" along a really thin stalk! Think I prefer giving a slug or snail a quick death by cutting them in half rather than a slow one by feeding them bran. Found one snail and one slug INSIDE the slug collars when I was out with my torch last night.
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