Something is eating holes in my silverbeet

[rob harris]

What can i put on my plants to help stop the bugs chewing away at them, ive been told soapy water may help. Rob

[rob harris]

Thanks Sean ill be out tonight with my torch and base ball bat.
Rob

Sean Kemball said:

Betcha it's slugs, they're terrible at this time of year - nice and wet for them. Or snails, of course.

My advice is get some ducks, or at least encourage the local ducks (if you have any) by feeding them. Best slug/snail solution ever. But mind your lettuce, they'll confuse it with duck food all the time.

On a perhaps more realistic note, your best option is to go out every night with a torch, gloves, a container... something heavy to hit them with... and pick them off by hand (and whack them, of course). Your neighbours will think you are completely nutty, but it's worth it. And, keep up on the garden hygiene, they love weeds and other places to shelter.

I've had no luck with the soapy water approach - although a fish emulsion I tried once had some limited effect. Good luck.

[rob harris]

Thanks for that i thought i might put barbed wire around the plants, that might keep the little suckers out.

Rob

Romain and Lucy Perin said:

Having tried sawdust, coffee grounds and garlic, we've been doing the torch thing every night. The population is diminishing but still!! How can there be so many of the slippery bleepers? We've been filling a container with hot soapy water and just dropping them in. They die pretty quick. My new Pepino plant has been pretty much munched. And it had a fair few leaves on it. I watched them crawling over the prickly straw I had put around it - and under the net I had put over it...

[rob harris]

Thanks Kali
thanks for the tips only problem is the beer never gets to go stale at my place

Rob

Kali O'brien said:

if the plants are still very young, a cut off plastic bottle as a little greenhouse or even a collar, keeps critters off until the plant can stand up to them. I usually put up with a few holes, but if its slugs and snails best way is to go out with a torch at night and capture them red handed, or use a beer trap using stale beer in a jar buried to soil level, they go in for a drink and drown!.

[Kali]

if the plants are still very young, a cut off plastic bottle as a little greenhouse or even a collar, keeps critters off until the plant can stand up to them. I usually put up with a few holes, but if its slugs and snails best way is to go out with a torch at night and capture them red handed, or use a beer trap using stale beer in a jar buried to soil level, they go in for a drink and drown!.

[Romain and Lucy]

Having tried sawdust, coffee grounds and garlic, we've been doing the torch thing every night. The population is diminishing but still!! How can there be so many of the slippery bleepers? We've been filling a container with hot soapy water and just dropping them in. They die pretty quick. My new Pepino plant has been pretty much munched. And it had a fair few leaves on it. I watched them crawling over the prickly straw I had put around it - and under the net I had put over it...

[Sean Kemball]

Betcha it's slugs, they're terrible at this time of year - nice and wet for them. Or snails, of course.

My advice is get some ducks, or at least encourage the local ducks (if you have any) by feeding them. Best slug/snail solution ever. But mind your lettuce, they'll confuse it with duck food all the time.

On a perhaps more realistic note, your best option is to go out every night with a torch, gloves, a container... something heavy to hit them with... and pick them off by hand (and whack them, of course). Your neighbours will think you are completely nutty, but it's worth it. And, keep up on the garden hygiene, they love weeds and other places to shelter.

I've had no luck with the soapy water approach - although a fish emulsion I tried once had some limited effect. Good luck.