Cabbage root maggots

Thank you, Mr. H, you were correct, my cauliflower problem is root maggots.

Seemingly recovered cauliflower. 

I went out just a little while ago, and saw that the cauliflower appears to be recovering, as the wilting went away. The books I consulted said that the effected plants will generally wilt in the hottest part of the days. Had I not known that the cauliflower's roots were probably infected, I would have ignored the problem.

But, I pulled up the plant and inspected the root. There it was, an ugly maggot.

Root maggot. I broke off the root and let the chickens have a go at it. 

I consulted Steve Solomon's Gardening When it Counts Book mentions that root maggots are a huge problem here in Cascadia. He says that we can delay planting in the until late may through July when the flies are least active. I'm assuming that this also means that sowing seeds prior to that time under protection (row covers and tunnel cloches, etc.) will protect the seedlings from flies (but not from maggots already present in the soil.

Some varieties of brassicas are resistant to the root maggot. He did not say which in this book. Perhaps he mentions the varieties in his other book, which I cannot seem to find at the moment.

In addition he mentioned the work of a man named Blair Adams, who found that wood ashes placed around the plants will actually attract maggots to the soil. But, what does work (even better than traditional barrier methods, he says) is a ring of fresh sawdust placed around the plants, and hilling the soil a little around the plants so that the roots are buried a little deeper.

Evidently parasitic nematodes work well, as long as the nematodes are fresh and haven't been sitting around.

Other pest control articles.


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Trapping slugs with boards, tiles, rocks: here's what I've learned

If you haven't been following this experiment, let me write up a quick summary for you:

Trapping slugs is only minimally effective and is only that effective if you remember to go out every single day and check under every single trap. And you will only gather significant amounts of slugs if you place out very high numbers of traps.

Since slugs like to hide under boards, rocks, leaves, mulches, etc., I decided to try to see how effective it would be to trap them. I gathered every flat board, tile, and rock I could find and placed them under my slug infested bean plants, an area of roughly 50 square feet. I ended up with around 25 traps that covered at least a third of the infected area.

I had high hopes for this experiment. I thought that if I bombarded the area with traps, rather than place them randomly throughout the garden, I would have gained control rather quickly. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

I kept the traps out for nearly two weeks, and I have collected and destroyed just as many slugs on the last day as I did on the first day. Initially I wanted to figure out just how long it would have taken me to gain control over the slug population in that area of the garden, but I am feeling now that the time I spend on flipping over ever single trap and destroying what is underneath is... well, not exactly a waste of time, as it obviously is mildly effective (IF you remember to go out everyday and destroy them) but I think my time would be better spent on another method of control.

While I was trying to gain control over the area, I was not oblivious to the fact that slugs were proliferating in every other area of my garden. I don't have time to trap every single slug and need to come up with a better approach.

Yesterday I had an aha moment when I was outside weeding. Weeding is one of the most effect methods of reducing slug populations since they won't have many shaded ground covers to hide under. I've got blackberries and all other manners of weeds trying to crowd out all of my vegetables. But I can't get anywhere fast with my little 3-4" hoe. I need a bigger hoe. The little hoe is still very useful for getting inbetween plants, but is going to take too darn long to hoe all my gardens with it. Also I am going to need to increase spacing of the plants, which will allow me to hoe easier.

Clearly I will need to do something about the current slug population. I will be experimenting with baits soon... how to use them most effectively. Stay tuned!



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Bombarding slugs with traps... days 12 & 13

Today I found roughly 15 slugs in all of my traps and yesterday I found 8.



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Bombarding slugs with traps day... 8

7 slugs and a baby snail today.

For more on this experiment see: Bombarding slugs with traps... day 1

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 7

I found 8 slugs today.

For more information on this experiment see: Bombarding slugs with with traps... day 1.




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Bombarding slugs with traps... day 4

For background on this experiment, please see this post.

Today I caught about 10 slugs.


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Bombarding slugs with traps... day 3

This is a series dedicated to finding the most effective ways to minimize slug damage. Read: War on Slugs for the whole story.

Today's slug harvest was similar to yesterday's.  15ish small slugs.

Any guesses as to how long it will take me to reduce the population of the slugs in that area?

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 2

This is part of my War on Slugs experiments.

See: bombarding slugs with traps day 1 for the story on this experiment.

This is the result of bombarding my slug infested bean garden with as many boards and tiles that I could find. I found upwards of a dozen slugs trapped.

The drawback: this is awfully laborious and my time might be better spent using iron phosphate. But that's another experiment I'll be working on down the road!

For a list of all of my slug control experiments, please see this page.

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 1

By now I've certainly figured out that slugs like to hide under boards and rocks during the day. I've been using this to my advantage, by trapping them with boards and tiles and rock strewn throughout the garden. Though this works, I have noticed the following limitations:

1. Since I have placed so many traps randomly throughout the garden, I realize that I am just not able to get to all of them everyday, even though I try. Since I don't, this works to my disadvantage and just gives the slugs a place to call home and deposit their eggs.

2. I've noticed that there are days that I get many slugs under boards in certain areas and that the plants the boards are attempting to protect are still being attacked. Conversely, there are areas that don't seem to have any damage and day after day I lift the boards and don't find slugs. This has also worked to my disadvantage because I get lazy and don't check the boards that I haven't had problems with for several days, only to find that a slug has indeed found itself a home and perhaps laid eggs. A revision in my trapping methods is definitely needed.

So here's my new experiment:

I've gathered every board, tile, flat rock I have and bombarded this slug infested bean area with traps. I've placed tiles and short boards in the thickest of the under-plantings. Each day, I will go out in the morning and destroy all the slugs that are underneath. My theory is that in a few days the slug population will be dramatically reduced if not eliminated, except for the slug eggs that have already been laid. (anyone know how to deal with slug eggs?) Once the slugs are gone, or when it gets cold and I cannot check everyday, I will promptly remove the boards.

Tiles and little boards placed under the thickest areas. +++

This morning, with only 2 or 3 traps, I found five big fat slugs and a baby slug. Now I have upwards of 20. I hope to update the blog each day with my findings.

As a side note: the slugs definitely seem to prefer wet boards and rocks. If you are trying to lure them to your traps, it may be a good idea to thoroughly wet the area. If you are trying to keep the slugs away from the area, the less moisture is better.

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 2

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 3

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 4

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 5

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 6

Bombarding slugs with traps... day 7
Bombarding slugs with traps... day 8
Bombarding slugs with traps... day 9

For a list of all of my slug control experiments, please see this page.




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Are slugs repelled by copper?

Here's a slug, chomping away on lettuce leaves on top of a bed of copper.

As part of my War on Slugs experiments, I took a big chunk of cardboard and plastered it with copper to find out if slugs are truly repelled by copper. It didn't take long for the slugs to start munching away at this lettuce. 

For a list of all of my slug control experiments, please see this page. 

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Slugs

Ugh. Slugs. Here in the Pacific Northwest, they are the bane of gardeners. I've messed around with various control methods for years, and am now conducting experiments to find out what works and what doesn't. I have not found any deterrent to be helpful. Beer traps drown some slugs but other slugs take a big fat drink and move on. Trapping slugs with boards, tiles, rocks, etc., is moderately helpful.
Stay tuned... I will be updating the site regularly with my findings until I find the method that works the best.

War on Slugs

Bombarding slugs with traps

Slugs and eggshells

Are slugs repelled by copper?

Ashes as slug repellent/insecticide...does it work?

Slugs and beer... the results of my first beer trap experiment

Diatomaceous Earth and slugs... another efficacy experiment

Will slugs cross coffee grounds to get to the leaf? Yes.
 
The secret to getting your chickens to eat slugs




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Will slugs cross coffee grounds to get to suculent leaves? Yes.

Another popular theory, debunked.

Exhibit A: a big fat slug in a styrafoam box with a kale leaf surrounded by coffee grounds.

Exhibit B: the same scene, about an hour later. The slug not only went for the leaf but managed to move it to the other side of the box.

For a list of all of my slug control experiments, please see this page. 

The secret of getting chickens to eat slugs

Yesterday Guy and I decided to flip over all of the rocks around the perimeters of one of the gardens to go slug hunting. Guy likes to watch me find them but will not touch them.

In the past, I've tried to give any slugs I've found to the chickens and then don't seem to interested. Well, yesterday I figured out that if the slugs are small, they will go crazy for them. Of course, I found tons of them hiding underneath all the rocks and so I gave them to the chickens and the chickens nearly fought over them.

Today, to test my theory, I found one of those fat three inch long slugs and tried to give that to them. They expressed interest, pecked at it, and then left it be. Either there is something mighty tasty about the young slugs, or they just can't "chew" the big ones.

I always thought the books on raising chickens were full of it when they said their chickens would eat slugs. Now I know they will, and the authors of those books must have been on the east coast or something where the slugs don't get to the enormous size that they do here.

I've found that ducks will gobble them up like candy. Perhaps that is because ducks have significantly larger bills and they can actually get them down the hatch.

I know, totally gross, but hey, we gotta get rid of the slugs somehow, right? It's either that or go out with a flashlight and snip those suckers in two (right now we cannot afford the good slug bait). Well, I will probably have to do that with the larger ones. It is amazing how much damage they can do to the garden.

For a list of all of my slug control experiments, please see this page.