A few weeks ago I visited my mum for Sunday dinner. In the oven she was roasting a tray of egg shells. I was hoping for beef.
Fortunately the beef was resting and the shells were simply drying out to be crumbled and scattered around tender plants as a slug deterrent. It seems they don’t like dragging their slimy bodies over the spiky fragments of shell.
After a few weeks of scrambled eggs for breakfast I had collected enough dried out shells to sprinkle around a young, vulnerable courgette. A few days into the experiment and the leaves are still intact. Meanwhile, one of Rich’s neighbouring pumpkins has had it’s main artery severed with a guilty trail leading to a slug. It may be coincidence so we’ll monitor the situation and report back.
Do you know of any natural deterrents for slugs and other enemies? Leave a comment below and we’ll put it to the test.
Nick, on page 20 of the May edition of ‘Country Living’, it tells readers to
‘pay children to pick veg-munching slugs off your crops’.
It really says that!
I’ve discovered the “sacrificial strawberry” – leaving one victim on each plant to be munched to oblivion while neighbouring strawberries can ripen in peace. i blogged about it and other anti-slug measures! http://diggitydigg.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/sas-slugs-and-perfect-strawberries/