If you have a problem with slugs or caterpillers....

[StoninStanley]

I dont know if slugs and caterpillers bother MJ, but they sure as hell bothered my tomatoes and i thought id share this nice little organic deterant

take a water bottle, cut a column out and then cut little jagged edges on one side and then put it around the base of the plant. slug and caterpillers hate jagged edges.

heres some pics

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5088&stc=1&d=1153614535

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5089&stc=1&d=1153614535

peace out and happy smoking :share:

[CB]

very cool indeed.... could have used this info a couple months ago :rolleyes:

but got a pic saved for future problems ;)

thx for the tip

[gorilla]

Cool pics stanley. Good post.

[ndnguy]

Razor blades make it a lil more fun.;)

[StoninStanley]

lol yeah i just want to deter them not kill them :D they are an important part of our ecosystem :trust:

[ndnguy]

Ok OK I'll get rid of my torture devices.:p Was just funnin I never had a slug problem and I know they are important like all the other slither slimey thingys.:eek: Seen they can raise hell on a plant tho.:(

[StoninStanley]

lol yeah they can raise hell for all the growers :D

[slater]

beer works good too....but why waste beer when you have plastic...

[herb]

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a live microorganism that comes usually in a powdered form in packets you mix with water and spray on your plants.

It's totally organic, can be applied at any stage of growth, and will repel the caterpillars like nothing else. Slugs? :hmmmm:

herb

[StoninStanley]

beer works good too....but why waste beer when you have plastic...
exactly

by slugs i mean snails, sorry lol

[Cakes]

By the looks of the plants involved, you just started using this method. Did it prove to be effective for the rest of the season?

[Fing_57]

slugs/snails ..... put beer out for them

the yeast in it makes it so they cant eat ..... they always feel full and die

[Mel]

lol yeah i just want to deter them not kill them :D they are an important part of our ecosystem :trust:


true.... but most slugs are an introduced species not natural to NA gardens, many species are Europian or Asian in origin. They were imported in. Kinda like the snake head fish that is ruining the ecosystem down in Patomic area of Md, or kudzu in southern and now central USA

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14772&d=1208959654

According to the Enviromental Literacey Council...

"Invasive species are the second greatest threat to biodiversity after habitat loss. Plants and animal species are introduced into new environments through many different pathways, but human actions (both intentional and unintentional) are often the cause. Some plant species, such as kudzu, are considered ornamental, and are brought in new areas and planted by humans. Other species, such as fish, are often transported as sources of food or to be kept as pets. Some species "hitch a ride" from their native lands as human-created transportation systems move cargo from one geographic location to another. People who intentionally release non-native species into new ecosystems are often unaware of the consequences that could result, but introduced species can be a grave threat to ecosystem stability.

One of the newest "foreign invaders" in the United States is the northern snakehead fish (channa argus). Native to China, Russia, and Korea, the northern snakehead was first reported in the United States in 1977, when it was found in Silverwood Lake, California (Courtenay and Williams 2002). Since that time, the invasive species has been discovered in bodies of water in states as disparate in temperature and geography as Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, and Wisconsin. The snakehead was brought to the U.S. as a food source -- the fish is considered a delicacy and reportedly, an aphrodisiac, in its native lands -- but, no one knows why the fish were released into local rivers and ponds. Unfortunately, once released, the snakehead has proven difficult to control.

Snakehead fish can be quite large, with the typical adult ranging in size between 2.5 and 5 feet, and can produce anywhere from 1,300 to 15,000 eggs per spawn multiple times a year (USGS). Their typical diet consists mostly of other fishes along with crustaceans, frogs, and small reptiles. As unbelievable as it sounds, the fish has even been known to eat small birds and mammals. The snakehead's varied and voracious appetite poses a major threat to both the smaller fish it encounters, as well as to the other fish that compete with it for food. Despite the common myth, the snakehead cannot literally walk on dry land, but it is capable of living for several days out of water as long as it is in a moist environment. The fish may leave a body of water with low oxygen levels to "wallow" on land into another body of water. This unique ability, as well as its imposing size and appetite, place the snakehead among the top predatory fish in its new habitat, and give it the potential to quickly overwhelm native species.

Despite the snakehead's slow spread across state lines, once the fish is found in a local body of water, it has proven difficult to eradicate. In places such as the Potomac River, scientists have been taken aback by the burgeoning population of snakehead fish found only a few years after introduction. States have implemented a variety of methods in an attempt to control the invasive species. In several ponds, the chemical Rotenone was applied; the application usually did kill the snakehead, but unfortunately, also most other fish in the pond. For rivers, control methods have been confined to catch and report. Some states have even offered a bounty for snakehead fish. However, due to fishermen's reports of migrating and thriving populations of the invasive species, many states are currently re-evaluating their monitoring and control policies. "

is killing a few un natural slugs (which are devistating to the enviroment)
really such a bad thing?

BTW try DE

[Mel]

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14774&stc=1&d=1208961720

Non-native slugs and snails are a slimy scourge in Mid-Valley gardens, landscapes
By Beth Casper • Statesman Journal

April 20, 2008

It's not just the slime. Oregonians despise slugs and snails for all sorts of reasons.


In a single evening, they can chomp an entire bed of precious vegetable plants, a row of flowering perennials or thousands of dollars worth of grass seed in a farmer's field.

"I step on every one I see. Or I pet them with scissors," West Salem gardener Patricia Robbins said, laughing, about dealing with slugs. "They will just eat all of your nice greens and your lilies and your flowers. They are pretty destructive."

The slugs and snails that cause problems aren't from here. They most likely came to Oregon decades ago from Europe. They could have been trapped in soil used as ballast in ocean-going ships or in dirt surrounding plants moved around the world.

Experts think at least 16 slug species have invaded the Pacific Northwest. Almost 30 terrestrial mollusk species have been introduced.

Grey garden slugs, a common invasive species in gardens through Western Oregon, probably arrived with settlers moving plant material to their new homes.

The price for allowing their population to grow? Between $3 million and $5 million in damage every year to the grass-seed industry alone.

Estimates of their damage to other industries aren't determined — people have been dealing with slugs for so long that their economic destruction is seen as something to deal with rather than something to quantify.

Established populations aren't the only threat.

New slugs and snails arrive frequently. Their flexible bodies can squeeze into tiny spaces, allowing them to hitch rides from country to country undetected. Snails' shells help them avoid temporary undesirable temperatures and weather conditions.

And even when they are found, some can't be identified. Some nurseries are losing money by having shipments rejected because of a new arrival, called the amber snail, yet experts still haven't determined the species.

Oregon never will be completely rid of invasive slugs and snails, but holding the ground against new invaders would save the state millions of dollars and acres of nursery plants and agricultural fields.

Slimy stowaways
Some species hitch rides from the Mediterranean on pallets of tile and marble. Others bury deep in the soil of plants shipped around the world. Still others find their way into cracks on shipping containers, in crevasses in military hardwear and aquarium supplies and between layers of wood products.

Between 1993 and 1998, federal inspectors intercepted 4,900 hitchhiking slugs or snails from more than 100 countries.

Thousands more likely were missed.

"Our customs inspectors don't have time to inspect every single container," said Mark Hitchcox, pest survey specialist for U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And when they crawl out wherever they land, a population easily can grow. A female slug, for example, can lay 400 to 500 eggs in her lifetime, as long as 12 months.

Booming populations of invasive slugs and snails have become major pests in Oregon.

The gray garden slug, Derocerus reticulatum, can be found in most gardens in the Mid-Willamette Valley. Some gardens also have the black or chocolate arion, Arion rufus species. And the giant garden slug, Limax maximus, also takes up residence among vegetables and flowers.

In Portland and along the Oregon Coast, the brown garden snail, Cornu aspersum, destroys gardens and lawns. It is a major problem for nurseries, which must certify they don't have the brown garden snail when shipping to other states.

[SmokinMa]

Aww man....too bad I didn't read this last year.

I had a problem with caterpillers but didn't realize it til harvest. I was freaking out! I don't handle bugs well. :p