Slug Eggs

So many times I've been asked what slug eggs look like. While I can try to describe them, showing the real thing is better. How about a photo? 

Today I came upon this.........

This is one of our flat slugs wrapped around a clutch of eggs. Is the slug being protective of its clutch? Or did it just recently finish laying eggs and it hasn't moved on yet? Most of the time when I find these eggs masses in the garden, there is a thin, semi-dry film of protective slime wrapped horizontally around the egg mass. This egg mass doesn't have that band yet, so perhaps they've been freshly laid....or the slug isn't done yet with the job. 

Mini Greenhouse Tables

The blog has been quiet lately while I've been working on a project to grow fresh greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula, etc). The problems I'm trying to overcome are slugs and turkeys. Slugs not only eat holes in the leaves, but contaminate them with slime. We have rat-lung disease in this island, and slug slime can pass the parasite. And of course, turkeys can eat the entire crop in less than a hour. 

For the slugs, I've tried hand picking, using ducks, using traps, and spreading around slug bait. While all these help keep the numbers down, I still get slugs. But when it comes to safely eating fresh greens, I need to have zero slugs. So far the only zero slug environment has been achieved via protected hydroponics. I don't have a hydroponic system at the moment, but I might go back to a small one in the future, or maybe an aquaponic system. Right now I don't have the time to devote to it. Aaaaah, a future project! 

I figure I need to create something the slugs have a hard time accessing, or is easy to exclude them in some way. Plus a way to also confound the turkeys at the same time. What I'm building for my fresh greens could also be used for other crops. But I'm going to start out with lettuce, spinach, arugula, and other fresh greens. You know....the stuff that gets eaten raw. 

Ok......take wood pallets, some repurposed 2x4s, salvaged 1/2" plastic pipe, a worn out garden hose, and a donated roll of poly plastic sheeting. I have old paint (every color mixed together... it comes out a funky rosy grey) on hand for projects like this. I sprung for a new box of nails and a box of screws. Yes, you could use new stuff, but I'm opting to re-use when I can...low input/low impact farming. But in the end I wound up buying a few more pipes and a roll of plastic sheeting to finish off the last of the tables. 

I used 24" long pieces of 2x4s to put legs onto the wood pallets. Much of the time the tables were stable enough, but for the shaky ones I added bracing. 

Next I painted them. Just because it will look better in the end if they are all the same color. 

Took the pipe and cut it into 10' lengths. I could have used longer or shorter lengths, but the pieces I had lent themselves well to 10'. Drilled holes in the ends for the nails as they got nailed to the pallets. They're fairly shaky, so I attached a top rail (with screws) to connect the two hoops together. Then bracing was added (guava saplings cut to length) and screwed into place. Now the hoops were pretty stable. 

Attaching the poly plastic sheeting was a challenge. It was just difficult to work with with the lovely dang tropical breezes. It took a lot of patience and a bit of cussing. Short pieces of the old garden hose holds the plastic to the hoop. Just slice the hose so that it opened up and wrapped snugly to the pipe hoop. All that's needed is one screw to hold it in place. 

A short piece of scrap wood nailed over the plastic holds it to the pallet. 

That's basically it. I leveled up the table by propping a rock or piece of wood scrap under the legs. 

What's under the tables? Depending upon the spot, either worn out tarps or/and well used drop cloths. I have access to old linens which are handed out to people who need them, but some are too worn or stained for people to want. These get added to my drop cloth collection. 

So far I have 16 of these built. Perhaps I'll add a few more. We'll see. 

Next I'll show you what I'm growing in these mini greenhouses and how I'm doing it. 

 

Slug Buffets - Going Green!

This is great!!!  One of the blog followers came up with this.

I'm a big advocate of using what you have on hand. 

So S.J. wanted to protect her newly seeded radishes from marauding slugs and decided to make a slug buffet. Not having any plastic containers around, she did happen to have an old gourd. Cutting it up into the appropriate shapes, she created a marvelous version of a slug buffet, feeding tray and all. 

I love it!!

Slug Buffets - Update

The slug buffet traps are working. Whoopie!! There was evidence of slug activity and a number of dead slugs. And the bait has stayed dry through three light rains.

One of the email responses about these slug buffets suggested putting the bait into something to keep it off the soil. Two reasons--- less soil contamination and less moisture getting to the bait. The suggestion was a great idea. So I came up with little trays with low sides. In this case, it was a lid from a sour cream container. Perfect size.

Bait is in a tray. Set close to the soil and with a shallow lip, the slugs can easily get to the bait. 

I'm planning to make a lot more of these slug buffets now that I know that they work. I'll try using an assortment if styles to see if one works better than the others. Right now I like the red colored containers because they are easy to see.

Top tilled back, showing you the bait tray. 

In the above picture there is a dead, dried out slug to the left of the bait tray. It's in a pile of dried slug slime. Can you pick it out? Hint - the slug looks almost black, like a one inch long twig. It's laying about two inches directly to the left of the tray. 

Each trap killed at least one slug. One of the trays killed five! Any they weren't even set up in the high slug damage area. So I think these things are going to work out. 

In in an email someone felt that only nontoxic slug traps, such as beer traps, should be used. That's a fine suggestion for a small garden, and I totally agree. But when food production gardens grow really large, or when the gardener must spread his time thinly over multiple projects, or as in the case with these slug buffets the garden volunteers only work one day a week, then beer traps won't be a good solution. Traps need to be tended daily. On the other hand, slug buffets can be tended weekly.