Organic Gardeners

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For people who are growing things organically or who are interested in doing so.
Lets encourage each other and exchange tips.

Members: 31
Latest Activity: May 4

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A Few Organic Tips!

Started by Catherine. Last reply by Catherine Jun 21, 2012. 4 Replies 0 Likes

Hello, I thought I was already joined this group before now, silly me..LOL!I watch a Gardening programme here in Irish, but with sub titles, and I wrote down a few old Irish tips for....1) Get rid of…Continue

Tags: wireworm, vine, weevil, weedkiller, greenfly

Slugs!!

Started by Lucinda Lupin. Last reply by Lucinda Lupin Jun 13, 2012. 4 Replies 0 Likes

Hello everyone, I'm new to this site and new to blogging too so please let me know if I get it wrong! Ash from a coal fire is good as slugs don't like to crawl over it but it is messy. This year I…Continue

Comfrey and nettle juice

Started by elaine rickett. Last reply by Karin May 4, 2011. 1 Reply 0 Likes

Does anyone use this as a deterrent for slugs and the like. I water with it but wondered if I watered the leaves also maybe the vile smell would put them off.

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Comment by Karin on August 31, 2010 at 21:47: Good to see some members. Are you all gardening organically or just interested in the idea?

I've been giving it a go for about 3 or 4 years, but I'm finding there is a lot to learn and it's not just about giving up chemicals. I find copper rings work reasonably well keeping slugs off small plants although I also sprinkle Growing Success slug pellets around from time to time.

What do you find helpful when doing without chemicals?

Comment by Barry D on August 31, 2010 at 22:42: Been gardening organically for nearly 10 yrs - but moving around a lot through work, so making hard work of it! - takes time to build up the natural balance in a garden, and have to keep starting again.

I found digging a pond, and a bit of patience (when slugs ate things!) took care of the slug problem. The extra frogs / newts / birds and I'm assuming more hedgehog presence etc kept damage to a minimum. Never sure just how damaging those pellets are if a bird ate a lot of half dead slugs...

Hoping to put some roots down myself soon and get an acre or so to enjoy the wildlife and have an organic heaven...but who knows!

Comment by Sarah Rideout on September 1, 2010 at 13:58: Hi, have been co-ordinating an organic community allotment for about 10 years, we are on chalk so lots of snails and most damage is from those tiny slugs that are hard to see and remove. After visiting BHOGG in Hove and marvelling at their immaculate lettuces, we have started using organic slug pellets around seedlings and this does really help get them going. once they are bigger we rely on removal by hand. have tried beer taps, coffee grounds etc all with mixed success! We mulch a lot with straw to keep the moisture in on our very free draining site and the bigger slugs don't like crawling over that. The project is called Lewes Organic Allotment Project and you can see it at www.commoncause.org.uk

Comment by Karin on September 4, 2010 at 14:41: Hi Barry, I guess time to build up a natural balance is an important thing to factor into any plans for an organic garden, which while being very satisfying in the end goes against the grain of today's prevalent culture which is about instant gratification.

We've had a pond since last year and come to think of it there has been less slug and snail activity than last year, but I was putting that down to the drier weather.

Garden Organic approve of Growing Success slug pellets as they are meant to be harmless to other creatures .

Comment by Karin on September 4, 2010 at 15:20: Hi Sarah, it sounds like you and Barry are both quite experienced organic gardeners. I haven't tried coffee grounds as a slug deterrent, but admit slug pubs don't seem too effective. I'm interested to hear that slugs don't like crawling over straw, or at least not the bigger ones. I've been a bit wary about putting down straw as I thought it might encourage slug activity.

Comment by Sarah Rideout on September 4, 2010 at 19:10: It depends when you put it down. Its no good round seedlings but a bigger courgette, squash, potoato plant will do well (don't put the straw right up to the plant, leave about 6" space around and just put a few organic pellets down or put tin foil around stems). its worth lifting the straw especially after rain to check for our slimy friends and remove them.

Comment by Karin on September 4, 2010 at 19:40: Thanks for the tip, Sarah.

Comment by Barry D on September 4, 2010 at 22:30: It's all very specific as well with beer traps - I found some worked, some didn't. I read somewhere that bottled beer was better than canned ????? Only thing to do for definite was to put twigs in to stop beetles drowning!

All in all, I think as Karin mentions the natural balance is the key and it takes time. With hedgehogs, frogs, newts, birds etc. Slugs and snails are much less of a problem. You need to give it time, and leave some of them to keep the predators there.

Comment by Sarah Rideout on September 5, 2010 at 18:47: We used slops from the brewery in town, cheaper! Agree that natural balance best way, but have had more success with planting direct this year by scattering organic slug pellets over newly planted seed areas - things always got munched straight away before. We grow quite a lot of chinese/japanese greens which the slugs are slightly less fond of.

Comment by Sarah Rideout on October 4, 2010 at 15:40: The woman on the next door allotment is putting her garlic in now - we've always waited until shortest day, has anyone else tried putting them in earlier and got an earlier crop? If it goes in now will it put on too much leafy growth and be more likely to not cope so well with frost?

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