GardenBanter.co.uk - Swarming Slaters eating plants

"Chookie" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Mentally Jones II¾" wrote:

I have a severe slater problem - they are eating just about
everything.

I was under the impression that they ate mostly decaying plant
matter, but
these guys say they do eat other things:

http://www.heyne.com.au/gardencentre...wing+Pests.htm

To quote:
They live in damp compost and areas where there is decaying wood.
Their main
food supply is young shoots and soft root tips.

They are known to chew young seedling off at ground level.

Large plants too, not just seedlings. These are ravenous little
critters.

They cause problems with Tree Ferns, Elk and
Stag Horns where they feed on the young aerial root tips and they
are very
fond of Epiphytic Orchids.

They are leaving all of the above plants alone, prefering my veggie
garden for some reason :(

The most common garden slaters are the Porcellio Scaber, which has a
hard
shell and comes in a range of colours from grey, brown or
yellowish-orange
speckled with black. The adults are 9 -15 mm in size and are flat
and oval in
shape.

Grey with yellowish-white speckles.

They are not insects but crustaceans which are related to lobsters
and prawns.
The common pillbug (Armadilidium Vulgare) is a similar species, is
almost dark
black and rolls into a circle when disturbed.

CONTROL
They can be controlled by removing their breeding sites (rotting
timber,
decaying vegetation matter etc)

The compost bin is not near this garden. They are breeding in the
ground, digging small holes & coming out to feed (mostly) at night.
I have avoided using compost on this garden without any positive
result.

or sprinkling Naphthalene Flakes,

Tried that.

Baysol Snail Bait

Tried that & others.

or LAWN GRUBS, LAWN BEETLE GRUBS AND SLATER KILLER

Tried those previously & 'baythroid' - no luck at all with anything -
they seem to avoid the poisoned baits.

I even went out with insecticide spray at night, night after night,
yet they are still there in huge numbers.

or BAN ANT.

Have not tried that yet. Many of the ant poisons are not usable near
food plants due to severe toxicity.

Note that these people sell such products.

Global Garden, OTOH, says slaters
generally don't do much damage,

I wish.

and snail bait kills them.

I wish - they don't eat it at all...

Are you sure slaters are eating your plants, and not snails?

Yes, if you go out to the veggie garden at night with a torch
the ground looks like it's moving!! They are climbing up the plants,
eating their leaves & even chewing off the stems at ground level
with many plants. They even eat fresh Dynamic Lifter (yuk).

We have very few snails & slugs due to snail bait overkill.
I even threw it all around the lawn to wipe out any strays.

I wish there were a biological control agent for slaters.
Even the Blue-tongue & skinks don't eat them.
(we have heaps of skinks, even in winter)

Snail bait didn't help (used heaps previously).
They didn't touch it at all.

I also tried Dipel - no luck though it reduced the little black ants
plenty.

I would prefer to avoid toxic poisons on my veggies if possible yet I
am
running out of options it seems :(

I might try soaking a pack of tobacco in water then repeatedly spray
the whole garden with the liquid as someone else suggested today.

Wish me luck!!!

Thanks mate.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim
jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and
wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

--
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security.
- Benjamin Franklin
************************