Grow Your Own Magazine

Has anyone tried this method?
It seems cheap and theyve given it 9 out of 10.
I bought some rolls of the shocka mats at the gardeners world live at the nec and have had some success but not a 9 out of 10 more like a 6 out of 10, i have actually found a slimy slug crawling across one mat approaching my pepper plant! Just wondered if any grapes have tried the bran method and what where the results.At this point im willing to try anything!

I put some shocka mats around my cabbages, but found the slugs like to shelter under them during the day ready for their midnight feast. I want to try out the bran in my containers, does any one know a cheap place to buy it?

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Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Michael Pollan

I've heard of this, and oatmeal as well. I've got some packets of "out of date" oatmeal of various grades (fine, medium & coarse) in the cupboard. Should have been used by April 2006. Do you think this'll work too?

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Always look on the bright side of life
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What have we got to lose!
I think just some cheap bran/oatmeal from asda or another major supermarket of your choice would be ok, got to be worth a try.

I have tried the bran method on lettuces, cabbage and dahlias which previously have been decimated by slugs ( and left some without to see if they get hit - and they do) and it does appear to work. Bought a large bag (25KG) from the farm supplies where wifey gets her chicken stuff for around £8. Even with all the stuff I grow and use it on at the lotty I reckon one bag is going to last the season. Will have a much better idea then whether or not it really works.

Let all the grapes know later in the season

Sam

Same here really - I haven't tried it yet, but following this month's feature I have bought some and it's ready to go. Seeing this post in fact has reminded me that it won't stop slugs if it stays in the bag; I'd best go sort that out!

Cheers!

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Douglas

http://www.myvegetablegarden.co.uk/ - under construction

I too have bought some (from holland & barrett 89p for 750g) but haven't got around to using it yet!
apparently it can also be used to liven up tired upholstery by rubbing in with a cloth then brushing off- I'm a bit dubious about that though!

what sort of shed you got down lotti zanussi101? i only got a wooden chair

I would think you can get huge bags of the stuff fairly cheap anywhere that sells animal foods e.g. Countrywide (WMF) or other farm supply places. Would be interested to know if it works - updates in due course please?? If it gets good reviews I might pick up a sack next time I'm getting chicken food.

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Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.

I've used bran before (supermarket stuff) and it does seem to work. But it does need reapplying after rain ... perhaps you could rig up some kind of bran trap, like a beer-trap but with a lid to keep the rain off.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I should imagine it works by desiccation - sucking all the moisture out of the little blighters - so I'm not sure they'd be attracted to a pot of the stuff. Presumably it's the beery fumes that gets them into a beer trap.

Best rely on the tempting aroma of your best plants to lure them to their doom.......

Bran came out tops in the Gardeners World trials a couple of years ago. I tried a bit in my last garden but I found it hard to get hold of enough. Didn't know you could get it in sacks, I might have another look!

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

*wonders if oat so simple will work* got given about 300 free sample packs in the cupboard, and they all need to be eaten by october.

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Hey that's breakfast/lunch & supper sorted for a couple of months!!
haven't tried the bran but wondering if oatmeal would rot/go mouldy when wet?

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trust me, theres only so many times a day you can eat porridge lol we've already eaten about 200 of them.

mould is a good point, went into sons bedroom the other day, as i thought i'd make his room all tidy and clean for when he gets home ...... he must have had porridge last week before he went on holiday, and hadn't eaten it all, and left the bowl in his room ........ if i'd left it any longer it would have crawled out of his room ...... yukkkkkkkkk

though i would expect bran to go mouldy after it gets wet too.

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sometimes i do talk complete and utter rubbish ...... just ignore me if i do ........i'll go away eventually

http://teachy.myminicity.com/

If its good enough for gardeners world........
Put some on today, i'll see what happens tomorrow morning!!

According to the mag, slugs love bran, but it kills them by swelling up inside them - sounds fairly disgusting. The only worry they had was that after rain the bran would swell up and sit against the plant stems - so advised covering the soil up to but not against the plants.

Lucky you, Lynda66! I love oat so simple. I'm planning to pick up a sack of bran next time we go to the farm shop for hay / rabbit food. Can't hurt to give it a try!

Meanwhile, I've been getting pretty good results with coffee grounds. We got friendly with a local coffee shop, and pick up a bag of grounds at the end of the day every couple of weeks. It made the difference between no crop (plants eaten as soon as they emerged / were planted) and a pretty decent, if slightly nibbled, crop.

I had a bag of out-of-date wheatgerm in the cupboard and decided to try it as a bran substitute around my new mispoona seedlings. This backfired quite dramatically because my neighbours' labradors (we share a patio area) went completely beserk over the stuff and scoffed most of the seedlings in an attempt to devour the wheatgerm, while also trampling all the neighbouring salad greens. What was left of the wheatgerm went really mouldy. On the one hand I don't think there was any slug damage. On the other, I don't think slugs stand a chance when competing against an enthusiastic labrador-cum-plant-hoover. I removed the last traces of wheatgerm (though the worms seemed to be getting quite excited about it) in order to save the remaining salad from labrador feet. The mispoona seedlings have since been utterly devoured by slugs. Ah well. Without rogue labradors, who knows?

A quick update - I've had bran round the base of various climbing french beans, borlotti beans since the 12th July - and it's worked very well as a slug distraction.

I can't admit to "leaving the slugs be" on the assumption that the bran would kill them as these plants are just out the back of the kitchen and benefit from nightly checks. But each night I popped out I'd find all the slugs munching away at the bran, rather than plants and I'd dispose of them then. I've not had to reapply the bran as yet.

As a distraction for the slugs I'd give the bran 10/10. Not brave enough however it assume that it'll kill them if I left it to "get on with it"; I'd struggle to leave a slug munching just inches near the young bean plants once I've seen it!!

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Douglas

http://www.myvegetablegarden.co.uk/ - under construction

Just come in from my nightly slug hunt. Yuk. Will definately try the bran - I might put a layer of it down away from the plants see if they will go for it instead of the pumpkins, cucumbers, lettuce, corguettes, . . . . .

Oat bran update: bought some oat bran yesterday and sprinkled some on a paving slab in the garden - checked back after midnight with a torch and there were several feasting on it - so it definately attracts them. Woke up late this morning and it was raining heavily so all the oat bran had dissaapeared and so had the slugs! Don't know if the oat bran killed them and the birds ate them earlier or if they crawled away to die? Will try again tonight if it's dry...

I tried this a few years back and we were astounded by the amount of pigeons that it attracted. Not sure if it was the slugs or the bran; but the pigeons trampled over all the plants we were trying to save.

Not used it since.

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http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
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[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic