Just been digging the last of the maincrop tatties, and a lot of them have
been attacted by slugs, had a bit of the same problem last year, how can I
grow my own tatties without being mucked up by slugs?

Alan

"Alan Holmes" wrote

Just been digging the last of the maincrop tatties, and a lot of them have
been attacted by slugs, had a bit of the same problem last year, how can I
grow my own tatties without being mucked up by slugs?

Always had that problem ourselves. Can be heartbreaking after all that
effort. :-(

Use a different variety helps, some are slug resistant.
You probably know about the Second Early "Kestral" already but there is also
some maincrops too..

On the British Potato Council list there are some that are marked as 5, one
better than Kestral, so should be even better at resisting the little
blighters.
Two we have tried and found have good resistance and we liked are..
Spey.. (son of Kestral) Very good resistance but not so easy to find seed.
Romano.. (red) Good

There are others to try...
Lady Rosetta (SE)
Hermes (MC)
Maritiema (SE)
Midas (MC)
Pentland Dell (MC)

Digging them up at the first sign of the hulms starting to die down helps
too.

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Alan Holmes" wrote
Just been digging the last of the maincrop tatties, and a lot of them have
been attacted by slugs, had a bit of the same problem last year, how can I
grow my own tatties without being mucked up by slugs?

Always had that problem ourselves. Can be heartbreaking after all that
effort. :-(

Use a different variety helps, some are slug resistant.
You probably know about the Second Early "Kestral" already but there is also
some maincrops too..

On the British Potato Council list there are some that are marked as 5, one
better than Kestral, so should be even better at resisting the little
blighters.
Two we have tried and found have good resistance and we liked are..
Spey.. (son of Kestral) Very good resistance but not so easy to find seed.
Romano.. (red) Good

There are others to try...
Lady Rosetta (SE)
Hermes (MC)
Maritiema (SE)
Midas (MC)
Pentland Dell (MC)

Digging them up at the first sign of the hulms starting to die down helps
too.

When I dug up my 2nd maincrop I was very complacent, they were much
larger than the first lot. Sad when we came to use them, they are in a
terrible state, you name it they've got it.

"Alan Holmes" wrote in message
...

Just been digging the last of the maincrop tatties, and a lot of them have
been attacted by slugs, had a bit of the same problem last year, how can I
grow my own tatties without being mucked up by slugs?

Alan

I have found watering in the slug eating nematodes works during damp weather
and during dry weather the slugs are not such a problem. I have also given
up growing late maincrop varieties as it seems to me that the longer the
spuds are in the ground the longer the slugs have to find them.

"Gill Matthews" wrote after
"Alan Holmes" asked

Just been digging the last of the maincrop tatties, and a lot of them
have been attacted by slugs, had a bit of the same problem last year, how
can I grow my own tatties without being mucked up by slugs?


I have found watering in the slug eating nematodes works during damp
weather and during dry weather the slugs are not such a problem. I have
also given up growing late maincrop varieties as it seems to me that the
longer the spuds are in the ground the longer the slugs have to find them.

We used those expensive Nematodes a couple of years ago and didn't find any
difference in the damage, certainly not enough to warrant the expense. Could
be because it is a dry/warm part of the country here.
A change of potato variety to those that are resistant to slugs has proved
very worthwhile though.
"Spey" is a very good grower for us.

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Gill Matthews" wrote after
"Alan Holmes" asked
Just been digging the last of the maincrop tatties, and a lot of them
have been attacted by slugs, had a bit of the same problem last year, how
can I grow my own tatties without being mucked up by slugs?

I have found watering in the slug eating nematodes works during damp
weather and during dry weather the slugs are not such a problem. I have
also given up growing late maincrop varieties as it seems to me that the
longer the spuds are in the ground the longer the slugs have to find them.

We used those expensive Nematodes a couple of years ago and didn't find any
difference in the damage, certainly not enough to warrant the expense. Could
be because it is a dry/warm part of the country here.


Funny, I tried the nematodes without any success in my garden and
concluded that it was too damp and cold!!!

Philippe, Edinburgh

"Philippe Gautier" wrote in message
...
Bob Hobden wrote:
"Gill Matthews" wrote after
"Alan Holmes" asked
Just been digging the last of the maincrop tatties, and a lot of them
have been attacted by slugs, had a bit of the same problem last year,
how can I grow my own tatties without being mucked up by slugs?

I have found watering in the slug eating nematodes works during damp
weather and during dry weather the slugs are not such a problem. I have
also given up growing late maincrop varieties as it seems to me that the
longer the spuds are in the ground the longer the slugs have to find
them.

We used those expensive Nematodes a couple of years ago and didn't find
any difference in the damage, certainly not enough to warrant the
expense. Could be because it is a dry/warm part of the country here.


Funny, I tried the nematodes without any success in my garden and
concluded that it was too damp and cold!!!

from reading the label I would say warm and damp is what the nematodes
require without those conditions then yes you are probably wasting your
money

Gill M

On 10/10/06 17:49, in article , "Gill Matthews"
account I no longer have wrote:


"Philippe Gautier" wrote in message
...
Bob Hobden wrote:
"Gill Matthews" wrote after
"Alan Holmes" asked
Just been digging the last of the maincrop tatties, and a lot of them
have been attacted by slugs, had a bit of the same problem last year,
how can I grow my own tatties without being mucked up by slugs?

I have found watering in the slug eating nematodes works during damp
weather and during dry weather the slugs are not such a problem. I have
also given up growing late maincrop varieties as it seems to me that the
longer the spuds are in the ground the longer the slugs have to find
them.

We used those expensive Nematodes a couple of years ago and didn't find
any difference in the damage, certainly not enough to warrant the
expense. Could be because it is a dry/warm part of the country here.


Funny, I tried the nematodes without any success in my garden and
concluded that it was too damp and cold!!!

from reading the label I would say warm and damp is what the nematodes
require without those conditions then yes you are probably wasting your
money


We use them here and they do work. But you must be very specific as to WHEN
you use them.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

Philippe Gautier wrote:
Funny, I tried the nematodes without any success in my garden and
concluded that it was too damp and cold!!!

Was it in spring? Because that's when you ought to do it. Twice at 3
weeks intervals. You will see the results the following years by seeing
less or none of the tiny little black slugs. I'm looking forward to
next spring to give my experiment a scoring point (cross fingers ;o)

Tu es francais?

"La Puce" wrote in message
oups.com...

Philippe Gautier wrote:
Funny, I tried the nematodes without any success in my garden and
concluded that it was too damp and cold!!!

Was it in spring? Because that's when you ought to do it. Twice at 3
weeks intervals. You will see the results the following years by seeing
less or none of the tiny little black slugs. I'm looking forward to
next spring to give my experiment a scoring point (cross fingers ;o)

Tu es francais?

At the risk of being verbally abused and physically assaulted by you I must
point out serious errors in your post.
The nematodes will only survive above 5C. The time for application is when
you can guarantee that below 5C is not likely at nights or daytime.
Applications every 6 weeks (not 3) is the recommended dosage by the
reputable manufacturers. Slugs only have a few months when they are not
active and unfortunately they have plenty of time to build up a significant
population when the nematodes are inactive (i.e. dead).
Your hopes of fewer slugs next year are wishful thinking.
I should add that the use of nematodes in a closed environment (greenhouse)
is a different scenario.

La Puce wrote:
Philippe Gautier wrote:
Funny, I tried the nematodes without any success in my garden and
concluded that it was too damp and cold!!!

Was it in spring? Because that's when you ought to do it. Twice at 3
weeks intervals. You will see the results the following years by seeing
less or none of the tiny little black slugs. I'm looking forward to
next spring to give my experiment a scoring point (cross fingers ;o)

Tu es francais?

Belge!

Don't remember when I used it (long time ago), but I think the
conditions were within the acceptable, temperature-wise. My mistake,
probably, was spraying only the borders and not the other parts of the
garden which looked like "slugs and snails" refuges. But then, I
realized that if I wanted to spray my entire garden, it would cost me a
real fortune! Yes, BTW, the main culprits in my garden are snails rather
than slugs, and it's not quite clear to me if the nematodes work against
snails as well?

Philippe

"Philippe Gautier" wrote in message
...
La Puce wrote:
Philippe Gautier wrote:
Funny, I tried the nematodes without any success in my garden and
concluded that it was too damp and cold!!!

Was it in spring? Because that's when you ought to do it. Twice at 3
weeks intervals. You will see the results the following years by seeing
less or none of the tiny little black slugs. I'm looking forward to
next spring to give my experiment a scoring point (cross fingers ;o)

Tu es francais?

Belge!

Don't remember when I used it (long time ago), but I think the conditions
were within the acceptable, temperature-wise. My mistake, probably, was
spraying only the borders and not the other parts of the garden which
looked like "slugs and snails" refuges. But then, I realized that if I
wanted to spray my entire garden, it would cost me a real fortune! Yes,
BTW, the main culprits in my garden are snails rather than slugs, and it's
not quite clear to me if the nematodes work against snails as well?

Philippe

Unfortunately the Nematodes do not work particularly well against snails.
Not totally useless, but only a small mortality in snails:-(
A relatively new killer in the UK is Ferric (Pyro)phosphate which seems to
work OK and has the benefit of being safe and beneficial to the soil.
AFAIK it is the same stuff that is used medicinally for anaemia.

Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:

A relatively new killer in the UK is Ferric (Pyro)phosphate which seems to
work OK and has the benefit of being safe and beneficial to the soil.
AFAIK it is the same stuff that is used medicinally for anaemia.



Thanks for the info. I will investigate for next spring!

Philippe Gautier wrote:
Tu es francais?
Belge!

Heh! Pas de mal, mes chiennes sont Belges aussi ;o)

Don't remember when I used it (long time ago), but I think the
conditions were within the acceptable, temperature-wise. My mistake,
probably, was spraying only the borders and not the other parts of the
garden which looked like "slugs and snails" refuges. But then, I
realized that if I wanted to spray my entire garden, it would cost me a
real fortune! Yes, BTW, the main culprits in my garden are snails rather
than slugs, and it's not quite clear to me if the nematodes work against
snails as well?

Snails too. Ideally one ought to use it just before planting or sowing.
They stay active for 6 weeks under the soil. I didn't spray but watered
- I made if I remember well, 6 litres out of one carton of nematodes
(and lots of sawdust it seemed) and reaplied 3 weeks later. It's the
lil' babies I am after (sounds terrible) - the big slugs I can manage
because I can see them!! Also, I'm sure you know but just in case, if
you are that bothered with snails, try companion planting with Garlic,
Lavender, Wormwood, Thymes, Sage, Stinging nettles, Borage, older
marrows, squash or cucumber, Geraniums, Mint, Lemon balm, Tansy and
Hyssop plus copper rings on the most suseptible plants, I manage a
decent garden.

Repeat hunting really works too and help after a hard days at work )

Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:
At the risk of being verbally abused and physically assaulted by you I must
point out serious errors in your post.

Whatever.

The nematodes will only survive above 5C.

WRONG. Quote from Nemaslug Nematodes are capable of surviving the odd
frost; so don't worry if the temperature falls after you have applied
Nemaslug

Check it here.
http://www.nemaslug.com/

The time for application is when
you can guarantee that below 5C is not likely at nights or daytime.

WRONG. You can apply just before planting which usually is for most
gardeners in the spring, as explained above, unless you're called
Rupert obviously.

Applications every 6 weeks (not 3) is the recommended dosage by the
reputable manufacturers.

WRONG. The nematodes are active for 6 weeks. Reapplying is 3rd week but
not all products do need re-applying.