Slugs natural food

[David Hill]

I have been wondering why it is that we never seem to find any weeds
being chewed by slugs.
I know that a lot of slugs have a natural diet of dead and decaying
plant matter, but you'd think that things like nice young chickweed
would be nice for them.
David @ the showery end of Swansea Bay

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 11:37:42 +0100, David Hill
<david@abacus-nurseries.co.uk> wrote:


It is probably because weeds and slugs have evolved in a balanced
relationship. Our [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] plants are recent and are not part of the
balance with slugs.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[Spider]

On 01/07/2012 12:39, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:




Also, we expect our plants to be far superior and productive compared to
weeds, so they are generally grown in better conditions than weeds,
making them more succulent and inviting.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

[Jake]

On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 15:12:39 +0100, Spider <spider@invalid.com> wrote:



Are you implying that my hostas and dahlias, which are entirely
un-nibbled, have been grown in worse conditions than weeds in order to
make them less succulent and inviting? I would challenge you to
pistols at dawn but you would have a minimum advantage of 2:1

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay. We don't yet have a
"dah dah dah dah dee dee deeee" theme tune but we're working on it.

Can't tell astilbe from aranthus
But I can from an acanthus!

[Martin]

On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 15:26:04 +0100, Jake <Nospam@invalid.invalid>
wrote:


LOL don't push your luck, Jake.
--

Martin

[Spider]

On 01/07/2012 15:26, Jake wrote:


Yup!! Must be so. :~)) Of course slug treatments would make them less
inviting, however succulent.


I would challenge you to


Oh, easily, and I could lasso you with my web. Bet you'd look dead cute
wrapped in silk :~)).



--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

[Jake]

On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 19:12:21 +0100, Spider <spider@invalid.com> wrote:


The only slug treatments here are provided by the occasional nocturnal
expedition with bucket of salty water to locate those not already
dealt with by the healthy resident population of hedgehogs, frogs and
toads. I've noticed blackbirds flying off with the odd slug too!

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay. We don't yet have a
"dah dah dah dah dee dee deeee" theme tune but we're working on it.

Can't tell astilbe from aranthus
But I can from an acanthus!

[Spider]

On 01/07/2012 19:16, Jake wrote:




I reckon that's enough to deter any slug from eating your succulent
leaves. I could *almost* feel sorry for your poor gastropods.

What do you do with your bucket of salt and snails? I can't imagine
you'd put them on the compost heap ... far too unhealthy for your army
of mollusc-munchers. Sewer, perhaps?

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

[Jake]

On Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:07:08 +0100, Spider <spider@invalid.com> wrote:



Makes a nice, if a little salty, soup.

It usually gets tipped into the "inspection chamber" that serves the
downstairs loo to avoid possibility of shells getting caught or not
flushing away inside. I only empty it about every 5-6 weeks as, apart
from any shells, the rest seems to condense itself into a nice jelly
in the bottom of the little bucket.

Occasionally I go out a bit earlier and find the odd sluglet which I
simply chop in two with scissors and leave on the path. Then later on
I can collect half-a-dozen slugs from around each half. Cannibals!
Snails don't seem to do this.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay. We don't yet have a
"dah dah dah dah dee dee deeee" theme tune but we're working on it.

Can't tell astilbe from aranthus
But I can from an acanthus!

[David Hill]

Scissors?
I normal get them between thumb and forefinger and just flick them in half
David @ the very wet end of Swansea Bay