A mild winter and a warm spring delighted gardeners. Unfortunately it also encourages some of the most ubiquitous pests endured by the green thumb brigade everywhere: slithery slugs and snails.
There are ways to slug it out, however.
Many a knowledgeable gardener has resorted to setting up slug pubs. A small dish filled with beer, the edges sunk to ground level in a moist spot, is covered with a clay flowerpot chocked up on one side with a pebble. The pot protects from dilution by rain and the enthusiastic attention by pet canines. Slugs and snails are attracted to the fluid, crawl in and die presumably happily. Actually, they drown but some maintain that given the chemicals in commercial brews, their demise is ensured anyway. Empty and reset the traps frequently.
So the munching molluscs are ploughing a path through the plants. So why not chow down on them? Are not snails a popular dish in
la belle France? Yes they are – but not straight from the garden and not any species. As for slugs – forget it. A 21-year-old Australian swallowed two slugs from a Sydney garden on a dare late last year. He was lucky to survive the lungworm parasite he contracted. The disease, which is a type of meningitis, can lead to swelling of the brain and spinal cord and has been known to be fatal.
Angiostrongylus cantonensis is passed to slugs from rodent droppings. It can also be caught from raw vegetables or fruit that have not been washed properly.
Thin copper ribbon also repels the menaces. Installed around the garden perimeter, or perhaps just around the most vulnerable areas, it apparently maintains a micro-current that slugs and snails are reluctant to cross. Unfortunately, given the cost of copper nowadays, this protection does not come cheaply.
Yet another commercial solution is achieved by applying an iron-based powder. As with copper ribbon, this has its enthusiasts, at least among gardeners if not the targets. Both these solutions, like the aforementioned slug pubs, are considered natural controls and so may be used where legislation bans the use of more violent, chemical pesticidal solutions.
In France, as noted, it is not just any snail that makes the gastronomic grade but specifically the Roman snail. It spends several weeks working through immense piles of lettuce before becoming escargot. Elsewhere, the Argentine channeled apple snail,
Pomacea canaliculata, an aquatic species, had been suggested. It was an unfortunate choice for Taiwan where their flavour failed to win over the taste buds of local consumers. Abandoned, they quickly spread out of control into farmlands, causing damage to rice paddies and aquatic plants.
Other macrophytophagous molluscs (herbivores like Pamela Anderson) have been widely introduced into other Southeast Asian countries, Hawaii, Florida, and recently Spain where they damage rice and taro, probably by releases by aquarium hobbyists.
Predaceous nematodes have been enlisted in the battle against slugs. According to Tony Buckland writing last year in Britain’s The Sunday Telegraph, you can make your own slug killers. You need a dozen or so, caught fresh and alive from the garden and kept in a bucket with about an inch of water and some floating weeds. Cover with a paving slab and leave for two weeks. The slugs will die but their predacious nematodes multiply. Strain through a kitchen sieve and the resulting liquid will protect plants for up six weeks. Return the remains in the sieve to start a fresh batch in the bucket. Buckland makes no mention of any aromas that may result.
Give up? Perhaps you might resort to the time-honoured method of hand picking. Scout the garden at night with a flashlight and a can of kerosene. Pick and pop into the can. Not happy in handling the wee beasties? Drop a pinch of salt onto a victim and it almost instantaneously turns into purple goo. Apparently the legal eagles who created anti-pesticide legislation haven’t heard of this one.
