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David in Normandy[_3_] · 18-11-2007, 09:45 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article , Charlie
Pridham says...
In article ,
says...
In article , Sacha
says...
Capping this, Ray told me the story of a couple who marched into the nursery
a few years ago in a state of righteous fury - seriously annoyed. They told
him that having bought some plants from us they'd spent an hour or more
picking out insect eggs from the compost in which the plants were potted.
Ray scooped up a handful of slow-release fertiliser pellets and said "did
they look like this?" Guess the answer.

Showing my ignorance here, but like they say better look a fool for five
minutes than remain a fool for ever! I've sometimes bought plants in
pots with clumps of little "beads" either down the edge of the pot or at
the bottom of the rootball. The Mrs and I can never agree if they are
slow release fertiliser or the eggs of slugs / snails? They are
typically around 1/8" diameter, perhaps slightly larger and usually in
clusters of around 20 or more. Their colour is usually white or creamy
through to brown. If I squash them they burst and are full of a watery
like substance. Are these eggs or fertiliser? Is there a clear way of
telling the difference?

Snail/slug eggs are white or nearly white and are in clumps, slow release
fertilizer is normally coloured (it varies as to which colour) blue or
straw yellow being the most common, and scattered through the compost.
Squashing will not tell you as both will squish

I'd always assumed that if they could be squashed and burst releasing
liquid that they were eggs, but it sounds like that isn't necessarily
the case. I've been removing and discarding some slow release fertiliser
as well as slug/snail eggs then.

It would be so much simpler if the fertiliser was always blue. It sounds
like pale straw or creamy colour beads could be mistaken as either slug
eggs or fertiliser!

So, it seems a fair bet to remove clumps of beads or those which are
white, but to leave those which are darker or more evenly scattered.
--
David in Normandy