On Fri, 20 May 2011 04:52:53 -0500, Davy wrote:

harry wrote in news:cbb44f3e-
2422-46d3-b7f0-815e22ad9e03
:

On May 19, 12:14*pm, Davy wrote:
This year, never happened before, but when my peas
germinate, I find the 10mm shoot lying on the
ground -
not attached to its roots.
Anyone experienced this and now what the culprit
might
be?
Davy

Mice.

I think I can now rule out mice. This morning all the
new germinations were cut off. Examined very carefully
and no signs of digging or of the seed being dug up.

Still no slug slime around the slug pellets.

So I am coming to think that it is something that
lives in the soil that is cutting my pea shoots;
undersoil slugs have been suggested.

DAvy

It is a common misconception that slugs ALWAYS leave obvious slime
trails. Just because you cannot see slime does not mean you don't have
slugs. It is also said that a slug may leave a trail so fine as to be
invisible to us but to be very smellable to a slug and that other
slugs will follow the same trail to the food source.

If you are using metaldehyde based pellets, they do need to be thinly
scattered as metaldehyde itself repels slugs. Cardiff University has
produced a paper on slug control which says:

"As a rule of thumb, a maximum of 100 mini pellets per square meter
should be used, which results in about 10 cm of space between each
one. Spread them any more densely and most will not be taken up, while
the repellent effect may actually reduce the kill. That is why the use
of small heaps of pellets should be avoided. Use at the recommended
rate will prevent pets and wild animals from taking up a lethal dose
of pellets. Confine dogs during application to prevent them from
believing they are being fed and remember that curious toddlers are
likely to put anything unusual (like bright blue pellets) in their
mouths.

Choose the evening before a warm, humid night if possible. Confine the
use of pellets to limited areas. The edges of walls, paths and lawns
are the sorts of places in which slugs like to hide away during the
day, where they can find damp, dark, cool refuges. When using pellets
in a crop, do not throw them around wildly or you run the risk of some
lodging in plant and contaminating your food. If at all practicable,
protect birds and hedgehogs from the pellets by using netting. Pea
guards are particularly suitable for edge situations, and are easy to
manage. It is a very good idea to remove and kill any slugs around the
pellets the next day because many will be paralysed but not dead. You
can skim off the pellets and slugs for disposal, which will allow you
to move the guards and treat another section, for if conditions were
right you will have killed most of the slugs you were going to kill in
that area on the first night. Such speedy treatment, and removal of
chemicals, will minimise the risks to non target creatures. "