Pests

Most gardeners would put slugs on their list of top pests, but on the allotments there are other pests such as rabbits and rats. Here are a few tips.

Slugs

They come in all shapes, sizes and colours and you can't get away from them, yep, our worst nightmare, slugs! Damp weather increases their numbers and you'll find them whever they can find shelter (rock, brick, wood, they're not fussy).

What slug?

Did you know that not all slugs are damaging to crops? There are around 30 different species of slugs in the UK (that's why we are the slug capital of the world). So you can identify the baddies from the goodies, here you'll find the four worst offenders.

The Field slug

Field slugs are grey/tan in colour and grow up to 4 cm in length. They list lettuce and cabbages as their favourite food but will eat carrots and beets if hungry. They leave a clear or white slime trail.

The Garden slug

A small slug that grows up to 3cm in length, they like both root and leafy vegetables. A favourite trick of these slugs is to severe the stems of young bean plants right at the soil level. As they are also burrowers they go under the soil to attack root vegetables such as turnips and potatoes. In fact, they'll eat anything! You'll also find them hidden in between the outer leaves of cabbages.

The Keel Slug

The keel slug lives underground and is fond of potatoes and other root vegetables. Quite large, up to 8cm, its grey or tan with an orange "go faster" stripe.

The Black Slug

This is the whopper of the slug world, growing up to 20cm in length. Despite its name, it can actually be white, red orange or grey, but black is the main colour. It doesn't cause as much damage as the other slugs but young seedlings are a favourite in spring time.

Also, when digging over your allotment look out for slug eggs...

Slug control

Know their habitat

Slugs like it damp. They survive particularly well under ground cover during winter so remove any temporary ground cover as soon as possible.

Using pellets

As a rule of thumb, a maximum of 100 mini pellets per square meter should be used, which results in about 10 cm of space between each one. Use at the recommended rate will prevent pets and wild animals from taking up a lethal dose of pellets. Confine dogs during application to prevent them from believing they are being fed and remember that curious toddlers are likely to put anything unusual (like bright blue pellets) in their mouths. Slug pellets suitable for organic use are now readily available from most garden centres and DIY stores.

Nematodes

Nematodes are natural predators of the slug. They can be purchased online or at a good garden centre and need to be applied every 4-6 weeks over spring and summer. The nematodes are mixed with water which is then sprayed on all areas of the allotment. Its effective but quite a costly option on a large plot.

Using a spray

If you use copper sulphate spray for slugs, keep it well away from ponds. It should only be used when slugs are active. It will get washed away when it rains, but you should avoid repeat allpications as a build up of copper sulphate in the soil can affect worm numbers.

Using copper tape or rings

Rings or copper tape are available from garden centres. They are used to surround individual plants. They can be an expensive option to protect every plant on the allotment, so could be reserved for your favourites! Buying plumbers copper pipe might be cheaper but the effectiveness has not been tested out to my knowledge.

Barriers

Sand, ashes, broken eggshells and soot are physically difficult for slugs to get across either through being scratchy and sharp or by drying up the mucous glands that are necessary for their movement. There may sometimes be a chemically repellent effect as, for instance, in the case of ashes.

Unfortunately these substances all suffer from the ravages of wind and rain which respectively blow the stuff about or splash it with mud. Like copper tape or rings, they are not affective against the burrowing kind of slug as they'll just go underneath!

Beer traps

If you can part with your beer, traps can be set using glass or plastic containers partially buried in the ground and filled with beer. A bit labour intensive! Make sure the containers are not buried at soil level as beneficial beetles might drown.

Torch

The final alternative is to hunt them yourself! Slugs come out after dusk so a torch and the back of a spade will suffice and is a cheap option. If you can't bear to squash them, you can chuck them into another allotment but that would be a very mean thing to do!!!

Run rabbit, Run rabbit

If you haven't seen one before, this is what a wild rabbit looks like! Very cute, but a pest on our allotments. As well as eating anything (especially just planted young shoots) they are very good at squeezing through even the smallest gap in your fence, chewing through netting, or burrowing under even the most well maintained fence!

They've even been known to jump over fences! Natural England has some leaflets that are available to download online which offer practical advice about rabbit-proofing, including the correct way to build a fence. You can click here to go directly to these leaflets. Alternatively, you might want to rabbit-proof individual plots on your allotment.

This can be achieved simply with the use of bamboo canes and netting. Use old tennis balls to join bamboo canes together. Be sure to check the netting each time you visit your allotment, to ensure that the rabbits haven't chewed their way through. Holes can be fixed by threading string through the netting like lacing a shoelace.

Plastic cloches or fleece offer easy protection for young shoots.

Alternatively, blue water piping can be bought from any DIY store. It's fexible to use and cut to length. The picture opposite shows spring cabbages protecting by piping and netting.

Rabbits will tend to opt for the easiest available "food" so the more you do to protect your crops the more likely they will eventually give up and go elsewhere.

The use of traps or poison is discouraged because of the risk to other wildlife and humans.