ChatterBank3 mins ago
Slugs And Snails.
Why don't they eat weeds?
Eg. I've got bind weed on my allotment..they don't touch it. Yet, I've sown some morning glory (which is the same family) and they've scoffed it:-(
Eg. I've got bind weed on my allotment..they don't touch it. Yet, I've sown some morning glory (which is the same family) and they've scoffed it:-(
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As Geezer says weeds have evolved with a range of pretty nasty chemicals in their foliage to deter plant eating creatures, slugs included. Also don't forget that a lot of the crops and flowers, that we now prize for their nutritional or aesthetic quality, have been have been selectively cross bred or if you like genetically modified by us over the centuries. This programme will have reduced the potency of the inherent deterrent of the original "weeds" that we now rely on for food and our garden blooms. Just a tip, did you know that slugs and snails love flour? Plain flour or cornflower laced with slug pellets will clear the blighters away from you pots and flower beds but does make a damn mess if it rains on it before you have chance to clean it up.
With a plot that size melv it is nearly worth putting in a little pond and encouraging toads or frogs. You could also try a nematode treatment. You own compost heap will also naturally develop nematodes and the resulting compost is a barrier against slugs. Another possible control is scatter citrus peelings or melon rinds in one corner which will attract them to that area giving you a chance to blitz them if you are out late or very early doors.
This year has been a bit of a damp one with all the rain,ideal if you are a slug though. I seem to have solved the slug problem by surrounding any thing they like to eat with seaweed. It goes crispy in the sun and they wont cross it, I expect the salt on the seaweed also deters them. The beans and courgettes have all survived with this treatment.
Funnily enough I did a bit of an experiment a month ago and planted 4 extra cougettes without the seaweed surround ... and only 1 has survived.
Funnily enough I did a bit of an experiment a month ago and planted 4 extra cougettes without the seaweed surround ... and only 1 has survived.