slugs and fertility - Ask Extension
Hello! How would you recommend I overcome slugs eating my peas, spinach, raddish, lettuce, and bean plants. I appreciate any solution, but especially ...
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slugs and fertility #874330
Asked June 23, 2024, 6:48 PM EDT
Hello! How would you recommend I overcome slugs eating my peas, spinach, raddish, lettuce, and bean plants. I appreciate any solution, but especially excited about ones synergistic with nature.
My second question is how can I garden without buying compost? I don't produce enough food scraps to do a hot compost, but I do have access to woods to use green material. How do you recommend implementing cover cropping, perrenial support species, mulch, and the little food scraps I have (and pee) to keep a prolific garden throughout the year?
Hennepin County Minnesota
Expert Response
Question number one: There are natural remedies involving sinking shallow containers with beer or apple cider vinegar. I have found these helpful on a small scale. See the websites for these and other ideas to control slugs in gardens.
https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/slugs
Before deciding to use compost have a soil test done. You may not need it and too much compost can have detrimental effects on plants. For example, too much nitrogen and you will get lots of green growth and fewer fruits and vegetables. Cover crops as described in the second website can be an effective solution to use instead of composting.
1. https://soiltest.cfans.umn.edu/
2. https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-news/compost-and-soil-organic-matter-more-merrier
https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/slugs
Before deciding to use compost have a soil test done. You may not need it and too much compost can have detrimental effects on plants. For example, too much nitrogen and you will get lots of green growth and fewer fruits and vegetables. Cover crops as described in the second website can be an effective solution to use instead of composting.
1. https://soiltest.cfans.umn.edu/
2. https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-news/compost-and-soil-organic-matter-more-merrier
