Slugs and snails: how we love them and how they love our lettuce!

 

They will go for the lettuce right from the moment the seed burst from the ground further more it has been estimated that there are 50 slugs for every squire meter of your garden.

You will know that you have them because you will either see them or see the chewed leaves of your lettuce.

Solution: As growers we have a big problem here because slugs and snails thrive when protected from frost, drought, wind just like lettuce, so in a way we are creating the right environment for them.

However, what we can do is make it as unpleasant as possible for them. Keep our beds tidy with fine raked soil, the reason for this is that the slugs will have no where to hide and the birds can get them.

As far as I am aware there are no lettuce slug resistant varieties, so no help there

Make sure that your bed is well drained and that you have a good soil structure.

Encourage natural slug predators.

 This is a bit of a two edged sword because if you make your bed friendly to beneficial creatures by not using harmful sprays and providing habitats for them your are also helping the slugs survive. Just hope that there are more predators then slugs.

This is the main method of getting rid of the slug; Hand picking. Go out in the evening and early morning pick them up and chuck them in a bucket.

Snails and slugs love the smell of beer; so you can put out a shallow container of beer and the slugs will drown in it. Check the trap out every morning and empty the dead slugs, refill and wait for the next lot.

Another good lure to attract slugs is to place comfrey leaves around you bed.

 The idea here is to get the slugs to feed on the comfrey leaves and not you lettuce. The comfrey leaves will need checking every now and then because the slugs will hide under them; you can just put them in your ‘slug bucket’ and await the next lot.

Barriers have always been a good method to deter slugs and they consist of different types. Grit or sand around your plant/bottle cloches; remove the bottom half of a clear plastic bottle and place around your lettuce/ You can buy slug collars which are a plastic ring with a sort of lip put around your plant to make it difficult for the slug to get to your lettuce.

Give the slugs a meal of Bran in a bowel near your lettuce. This fills them up and they will not trouble your plants.

A word about slug pellets: 

There are two types:

Ferric phosphate pellets: The idea here is that the pellet is eaten by the slug and the slug will die and another other creature that eats the dead slug will not be harmed. They are only successful up to a point; I assume that not all slugs are attracted to them.

Metaldehyde pellets: These pellets are 100% sure way of killing off any snail or slug that eats them, however they will also kill off any creature that eats the dead slug.