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- Super Green Thumb
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- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 4659
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
Well Gluten is made from plant protein that that is definately made of carbon so, we have an organic solution to slugs!! Good on you Squash Nut! Thanks for the clerification.
Actually, I just got to thinking. (Which is a scary undertaking in it's own right )
Iron phosphate is definately a salt. I am wondering if the corn gluten counterbalances the salt content of the fertilizer. I'll have to ask around my organic gardening club about that. Any information from others would be useful as well
Appreciate your input Squashnut.
Actually, I just got to thinking. (Which is a scary undertaking in it's own right )
Iron phosphate is definately a salt. I am wondering if the corn gluten counterbalances the salt content of the fertilizer. I'll have to ask around my organic gardening club about that. Any information from others would be useful as well
Appreciate your input Squashnut.
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- Mod
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- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
Here are the results of my research on Slug-go: (The information is from one of the members of my organic gardening club)
You are getting a might beyond my chemical knowledge but, that said I can offer the following as I know it. Corn gluten is actually a pre-emergent herbicide often used to control certain grasses. Iron phosphate is the pesticide (which is not used under organic regulations). It tends to sit where it is put as it is not readily dissolved in water and doesn't evaporate.
I assume that is why it is used in 'Sluggo' - the snails / slugs like the
meal but the iron does them in as it stays around and "catches" them
eventually. I do not think there would be sufficient carbon in the meal to prevent harm by the salts. Eventually the iron phosphate, I imagine, would still effect earthworms and the like and not be beneficial to the soil organisms.
I would want to be very careful to stay within the application rates.
Ever tried coffee grounds to control slugs?
So, I would recommend that people did not use this product.
You are getting a might beyond my chemical knowledge but, that said I can offer the following as I know it. Corn gluten is actually a pre-emergent herbicide often used to control certain grasses. Iron phosphate is the pesticide (which is not used under organic regulations). It tends to sit where it is put as it is not readily dissolved in water and doesn't evaporate.
I assume that is why it is used in 'Sluggo' - the snails / slugs like the
meal but the iron does them in as it stays around and "catches" them
eventually. I do not think there would be sufficient carbon in the meal to prevent harm by the salts. Eventually the iron phosphate, I imagine, would still effect earthworms and the like and not be beneficial to the soil organisms.
I would want to be very careful to stay within the application rates.
Ever tried coffee grounds to control slugs?
So, I would recommend that people did not use this product.
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- Mod
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- Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
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Has any one tryed the oatmeal?
My Gardens Alive catalog does not say the Their Escargo is eviromentally freindly but does not say it is organic. It has been promoted as organic by many so I am suprised that it is not.
I am very unhappy to find out after spending such a large amount of cash to buy some thing organic that it isn't.
I do know that I have been very unhappy with the performance for the amount of money spent.
I am going to try some oat meal, along with my lettuce traps. I put my coffee grounds in my compost and still have slugs in it so I don't have much faith in that.
Has any one tryed fresh coffee grounds. I wonder what effect they would have on garden worms and beetles?
My Gardens Alive catalog does not say the Their Escargo is eviromentally freindly but does not say it is organic. It has been promoted as organic by many so I am suprised that it is not.
I am very unhappy to find out after spending such a large amount of cash to buy some thing organic that it isn't.
I do know that I have been very unhappy with the performance for the amount of money spent.
I am going to try some oat meal, along with my lettuce traps. I put my coffee grounds in my compost and still have slugs in it so I don't have much faith in that.
Has any one tryed fresh coffee grounds. I wonder what effect they would have on garden worms and beetles?
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- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
Fresh coffee grounds will still be quite acidic and high in caffeine. I haven't actually tried it myself but, you could always try it and tell us what happens.
If you just want to slugs to stay away from your plants, you could do the copper strip thing. Just take a strop of copper (available from your local garden store) and tie it around the base of your plants.
Another tip I recieved at one of my organic gardening club meetings was to lay wire mesh on top of the soil around your beds and the slugs can't move across it.
If you just want to slugs to stay away from your plants, you could do the copper strip thing. Just take a strop of copper (available from your local garden store) and tie it around the base of your plants.
Another tip I recieved at one of my organic gardening club meetings was to lay wire mesh on top of the soil around your beds and the slugs can't move across it.
I might be able to use the wire mesh idea to keep the slugs from coming into my yard from the neighbors. What kind of wire mesh are you taking about? Like rabbit or chicken wire?
We are to the point where we are thinking about making a barrier of wood with some type of sharp metal on it. I have come up with the idea of canning jar lids with many hole punched in them or cut up pop cans that would make the slugs crawl acrooss sharp edges. But the wire mesh sounds good, less labor to use it. I think. great Idea. I think I have enough scrap 1/2 x 1 inch wire to make a barrier. How wide would it have to be?
I collected some slugs last nigh and put them in a containor with oat meal They ate it all right, I am thinking if I put some diamacious earth and oat meal in a trap that may be a good way to go. They will also eat corn starch. Either one mixed with DE kills them. I want to keep them in the De as long as possible that is why I am mixing the food with it. I don't want to dust my whole garden with the DE.
Not sure if this makes sense.
We are to the point where we are thinking about making a barrier of wood with some type of sharp metal on it. I have come up with the idea of canning jar lids with many hole punched in them or cut up pop cans that would make the slugs crawl acrooss sharp edges. But the wire mesh sounds good, less labor to use it. I think. great Idea. I think I have enough scrap 1/2 x 1 inch wire to make a barrier. How wide would it have to be?
I collected some slugs last nigh and put them in a containor with oat meal They ate it all right, I am thinking if I put some diamacious earth and oat meal in a trap that may be a good way to go. They will also eat corn starch. Either one mixed with DE kills them. I want to keep them in the De as long as possible that is why I am mixing the food with it. I don't want to dust my whole garden with the DE.
Not sure if this makes sense.
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- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
My neighbor ,who says he has no slugs, told me that it is my compost pile that is the problem.
He implied if I threw away my compostables and bought steer manure like he does I would not have a slug problem.
It looks like I am having some luck with the corn starch and DE mix. I am dusting know day time resting places rather than my whole garden with a mix of 1 part De and 2 parts corn starch. I am hoping the slugs will not only be cut by the De but will eat it as well. I have had them die in a jar after about half hour after eating this mix.
I was wondering what the organic circles thought about spraying slugs with soap or amonia.
He implied if I threw away my compostables and bought steer manure like he does I would not have a slug problem.
It looks like I am having some luck with the corn starch and DE mix. I am dusting know day time resting places rather than my whole garden with a mix of 1 part De and 2 parts corn starch. I am hoping the slugs will not only be cut by the De but will eat it as well. I have had them die in a jar after about half hour after eating this mix.
I was wondering what the organic circles thought about spraying slugs with soap or amonia.
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- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
Didn't even finish the first sentence before I had a response.
Do not throw away your compost and rely on steer manure alone. Bad, bad bad. First of all, excess steer manure can accumulate salts which degrade soil structure, kill soil microbes and burn plants.
Compost actually helps to rid the soil of slugs when added because not only is it a fertilizer but, it is also a mulch. And through some discussions here, I have learned that mulch deturs slugs. Also, through adding compost to your soil, your plants will be that much more healthy and therefore better suited for dealing with the slugs themselves.
Good luck with your slug problem. For me, as previously said; coffee grounds, leaf mulch and manure solved my problem. The slugs are apparently repelled be the coffee grounds and the mulch as a whole (which is now soil) has made my plants extremely healthy and they have never done so well.
Do not throw away your compost and rely on steer manure alone. Bad, bad bad. First of all, excess steer manure can accumulate salts which degrade soil structure, kill soil microbes and burn plants.
Compost actually helps to rid the soil of slugs when added because not only is it a fertilizer but, it is also a mulch. And through some discussions here, I have learned that mulch deturs slugs. Also, through adding compost to your soil, your plants will be that much more healthy and therefore better suited for dealing with the slugs themselves.
Good luck with your slug problem. For me, as previously said; coffee grounds, leaf mulch and manure solved my problem. The slugs are apparently repelled be the coffee grounds and the mulch as a whole (which is now soil) has made my plants extremely healthy and they have never done so well.
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