Beer traps for slugs, a poll.

[organic]

Sarah
I found a few things when reading up about the pellets a while back, this was one of them. Certainly not what you'd call a scientific argument, but there seems to be some sense in there at least.
Thoughts?

DigThisSeptember

[SarzWix]

I don't claim to be an organic gardener - I occasionally use 'inorganic' fertilisers (Tomorite), I use blood, fish and bone that doesn't come from organically reared animals, I use Enviromesh (a manmade product, probably dependent on petro-chemicals), I've even used weedkiller this year

For me, the important point is that these slug pellets pose less risk to wildlife and birds than the metaldehyde ones, and I don't have to worry so much about them leaching nasty stuff into the soil.

[organic]

Caveat: The following line isn't meant to be dismissive, condescending or anything like it...

I think they say "each to their own" here. Haha.
I'm not so sure how I feel about using blood, fish and bone from non-organic sources (I almost said "inorganic" then - now THAT would be a good trick)... I can't see it having too bad an impact on the crops in a plot, though there are the environmental concerns... that's really nothing to do with this though so I dunno why I'm harping on about it!

I completely agree that these slug pellets are WAY better than the metaldehyde ones, and for that I'm completely in favour! I'm just trying to figure out how they fit with "organic" gardening.



(Truth be told I've got half a mind to use weedkiller on some particularly deep rooted horsetail in a couple of places on my plot... SHOCK! HORROR! Call the Soil Association! - I know. Haha. Just to get started and all that. Will probably only do it where I need to lay a path over it though, I don't want to have to keep nipping the top off when it starts growing between the flags.)

[Two_Sheds]

I've got no idea what blocking type 14 means

Manda's already sorted you out with a definition, but if you use your Search button you will find lots of discussion and uses for it.
PS. It's Bocking, no 'ell'

[organic]

Oops.
"Schoolboy error" probably applies here.

Cheers TS.

[Keith2202]

I hate John Smiths for what they are responsible for doing in pubs: filling bars with their tasteless rubbish & inventing (or least putting everywhere) smoothflow! A disgrace in my opinion. So I use that for slug traps as it makes me feel good and gives me some petty revenge to see their product used as a poison (albeit does mean me contributing a couple of quid to their profits)

I'll use bluemoon's comfrey tip up on the allotment though, that sounds much better.

[OllieMartin]

Instead of throwing them, you can always throw a little salt on them. Incredibly cruel, but then so is drowning in beer!

[organic]

Keith... Considering the (probably unjust but being a northerner I'll never admit that) stereotype about southerners and rubbish beer it's nice to hear you say that!

John Smiths is complete and utter MUCK.

That's actually one of the things I had in mind when making the poll but I forgot to include an option for "smooth". Ah well.

[organic]

Ollie... I dunno about cruel...

An old man had worked as the night watchman at the brewery for years. One day, he wasn't paying attention, he tripped on the walkway and fell over into a vat of beer and drowned. The brewery owner thought it should be his job to inform the widow of her husband's death. He went to her house and rang the bell.
When she came to the door, he said, "I'm sorry to tell you, but your husband passed away at last night when he fell into the vat and drowned."
She wept and covered her face with her apron and after a time, between sobs, she asked, "Tell me, did he go quickly?"
"I'm afraid not," said the foreman: "From what we can tell he got out three times to use the toilet."


Ba dum tsssch!
The old ones are the best and all that.

[bluemoon]

Organic, I think many of us, (probably most of us) try to be organic, but occasionally we have to lapse a little and I think weedkiller on horsetail is probably one of those occasions. I'm obsessively organic, have never used a weedkiller (but then we don't have horsetail on our plots - had it growing through the tarmac on the drive of our last house though, nightmare stuff) and have used a pesticide once (3 squirts from a bug-gun in order to save an ailing plum tree), but non of us are soil association registered (well I suppose Sewer Rat might be) and in my opinion being as organic as possible is probably the best we can hope to achieve. Is it better to use weedkiller on your patch of horsetail once, or to fight a losing battle with it year after year and never get any crops planted in that area? When you consider the fact that you'd have to buy in the veg that you'd otherwise grow there, with the accompanying food-miles attached, then I think a quick spray at the beginning is preferrable. Unfortunately we do find ourselves making these sort of ethical judgements all the time. We can only do the best that we can.
Another slug tip is to get a net bag (the sort oranges come in works well) fill it with stones and gravel and bury it. Dig it up a day or two later and it will be full of slugs. Rinse them off then rebury it elsewhere. You can obviously have more than one on the go. The slugs it catches are the tiny ones which live under the soil and eat your root crops. Clearing an allotment like this is obviously not possible, and you need to keep going all season, but if you just do it on your roots bed it can prevent a lot of damage.

[organic]

moon - considering I can only see myself using herbicide in a precise way on things like horse tail I could probably live with a slight deviation from my ethics there. The worst bits seem to be where the path will be going anyway so probably not so bad. There's no way I'd spray an area as a matter of course and I suppose once the problem has passed it's all organic from there.

The net bag of stones and gravel seems like a brilliant idea. I think I'll probably give that one a go.
Would you just do it at the ends of rows/clumps/beds or do you squeeze it in between plants? If the latter I'll probably plan for a few empty gaps in among the spuds just for burying the bag.

What to do with the slugs after you pull the bag up? Step on them? Salt? Chuck them on the compost heap alive and let the heat kill them? Feed the birds somehow?

[Two_Sheds]

What to do with the slugs after you pull the bag up?

Salt for me. It's quick and cheap. (but it does kill the grass if you do it on your lawn )

[organic]

No lawn at the allotment (well, unless you count the couch grass) so no worries there.

I don't suppose they are compostable after the salt-death are they?

[Two_Sheds]

I don't suppose they are compostable after the salt-death are they?

yep.
Waste not want not

[organic]

So not enough salt goes into the compost (and then the ground) to be problematic?
Well - I suppose it might be if there was an army of slugs to deal with...

Worth dunking the bag and stones into salt water rather than using dry salt? Though I imagine (rightly or wrongly) that would be a bit more problematic in the compost front.