Poplation Dynamics and pest control.

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Poplation Dynamics and pest control.

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Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 12:26 pm Post subject: Poplation Dynamics and pest control.

I was doing some work down the allotments the other day, and as I impaled another random slug, it occurred to me that perhaps there is a better way...
Slugs can be useful: they can help break down compost and form part of the food chain...
So what about dumping all the molluscs on the compost heap, and surrounding it create plenty of predator habitat.
With plenty of food, the predator predator population should explode and force them to forage deeper into the garden.
Could also keep some slugs in buckets to breed nematodes and other slug pathogens.

I don't imagine any of it is a new idea, but I don't think I'd thought about it properly before...

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46207
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 12:38 pm Post subject:

as a tactic it seems sensible but chances are the slugs will just yum down the grub and breed like slugs

iirc the studies of how to control slugs have found whatever you do has little effect on long term populations in an unsealed system,new ones migrate in and survivors breed well to fill the gaps

3 yrs ago i had a nematode blitzt on em with todes in a packet mix there are a lot less and almost none of some species but there are a lot less sluggy delicacies as well cos growing soft leaves does not work here unless they have a physical slug barrier ,salty wallpaper paste stuff,copper strips etc etc

slug pub,torch n spike etc etc get a few hundred but if two survive or a pregnant one moves in there are similar numbers very soon

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 12:48 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

slug pub,torch n spike etc etc get a few hundred but if two survive or a pregnant one moves in there are similar numbers very soon

Then maintaining a high predator population would appear to be a good tactic.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46207
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 12:54 pm Post subject:

the todes in a box gives a massive instant boost to predator numbers ,the first victims feed the todes into a multiplication phase and the slug population drops rapidly .iirc i repeated that twice a year for two yrs using the timings on the instructions .i did reinforce it with direct slaughter by pub n spike.

that isnt quite the same as boosting the slug pop in the hope the predators catch up and take the lead

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 1:46 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

that isnt quite the same as boosting the slug pop in the hope the predators catch up and take the lead

I wasn't suggesting to boost the slug population, only to concentrate it somewhat. A bit like getting all your chickens in the hen-house in order to feed the fox...

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 3:49 pm Post subject:
I have seen the slug bucket idea recently, I think it was written up in the Guardian perhaps?

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 4:49 pm Post subject:
Slightly off topic but in recent years its been very noticeable that you see very few hedgehogs run over on the roads and as we all know, sadly its not because they've suddenly cracked the Green Cross Code Mrs Tiggy Winkle gets through loads of slugs.

baldybloke

Joined: 24 May 2008
Posts: 1388
Location: Wiltshire

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 5:18 pm Post subject:
Slugs in a compost heap are a bad idea as their eggs get spread with the compost on the veggie patch. A small pond with frogs would help keep their numbers down. As would a area set aside as a hedgehog habitat.

gregotyn

Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 14 2:43 pm Post subject:

Problem is that the predator population will decrease rapidly after they have devoured nearly all the slugs and so that the slugs will build up again. I did a bit on this with aphids and ladybirds years ago.
I am told the nematode system works pretty well and you don't spend two years between population build up and decline, as the predators move on when the food source has gone-and you are waiting for the pest to build up to attract the predator viscous circle!

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 14 9:22 am Post subject:

I recall at skool the lecturer had prepared an animated plot of predator and prey numbers over time, and the plots chased each other all over the screen.
But it is an open system: predators are mobile so when they run short of slugs in the immediate area, they will hunt further afield.

I wonder if there is anything we can feed them to keep populations up when the slugs are in short supply?

Maybe the answer is to design a cage that the slugs can't get out of, but the predators can get into...

gregotyn

Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 14 10:07 am Post subject:
Design the said cage and you won't need to work at anything ever again-something that would take 80% of the b....rs out of this life would be better than nothing and still make you a fortune!

Pilsbury

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5645
Location: East london/Essex

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 14 10:31 am Post subject:
Isnt thst cage just a pint pot sunk iin the ground with the dregs if the party cans poured in, los of slugs in but sod all out again.

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