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2 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Just wondering out loud here...

Could I "encourage" a couple of slow worms into my enclosure for slug control?

Possibly, they may want to make friends with some great crested newts.

 

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4 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Just wondering out loud here...

Could I "encourage" a couple of slow worms into my enclosure for slug control?

 

We have found slow worms under paving slabs and large rocks here so I guess you could put a couple of old paving slabs in a sunny spot in there.

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Well...the runner and dwarf beans SWMBO planted in pots have been fairly decimated by the b'stards! Found two snails under the rim of one pot then a big fat slug on the ground.

 

IMG_20220601_160835347.thumb.jpg.f5ff17423441c7c26d89c0744b661e27.jpg

 

Doesn't bode well for when the 50 go in the ground :(

 

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7 hours ago, Onoff said:

Well...the runner and dwarf beans SWMBO planted in pots have been fairly decimated by the b'stards! Found two snails under the rim of one pot then a big fat slug on the ground.

 

IMG_20220601_160835347.thumb.jpg.f5ff17423441c7c26d89c0744b661e27.jpg

 

Doesn't bode well for when the 50 go in the ground :(

 

 

Welcome to my world.... 

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If I buy/make some beer traps, then presumably there'll be a dish full of dead / drunk slugs in the morning. These beer soaked slugs.....leave them in a dish for the birds, badger?

 

Visions of blackbirds careering into windows or lairy badgers going on the rampage! 

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The badgers around these rural parts get drunk on people's eco friendly slug traps.

I see them sleeping the nights excesses off on the side of the roads.

Newspapers are not the only think that are black and white, and red all over.

image.png.376a5204aee44f1e8bd09b2d0fd7480c.png

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2 hours ago, Onoff said:

If I buy/make some beer traps, then presumably there'll be a dish full of dead / drunk slugs in the morning. These beer soaked slugs.....leave them in a dish for the birds, badger?

 

Visions of blackbirds careering into windows or lairy badgers going on the rampage! 

Yes. I've been there.  What you might not realise is how far a slug will travel to the beer. I would put it in the garden as far away from the veg as possible.

My best score in one evening is about 200!

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Home after 2 weeks away to find that the beans are badly eaten, with one of them just a stem. Meanwhile a bean (seed) I placed in the ground has grown 25mm and may overtake the pot-nurtured ones. Back to midnight torchlit slug sessions from tonight.

The courgettes have barely progressed either, but perhaps are concentrating on roots.

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Sleepers finally in to coral the slugs 😂

 

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All the soil from the trench will be sieved and levelled off within the sleeper area.

 

All the 25mm box cut to length for the frame.

 

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Net and 3D printed connectors all ready. 

 

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Might get round to the gate tomorrow and try the new welding helmet!

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Frame ready to assemble. Cut, painted, 3D connectors will go in with the aid of some cooking oil:

 

IMG_20220604_145912045.thumb.jpg.36ffd192eb17813419ffe735a60ffecc.jpg

 

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Back then to the original business of gardening...

I still haven't plant the beans yet. This is where they're going as of today. Still needs some gaps under the sleepers blocking off / filling. There's then the peripheral dirt to be de-stoned, weeded and levelled.

 

IMG_20220605_083443228.thumb.jpg.88b705e4c08bd96811230a7afe302d8b.jpg

 

The beans themselves, some leaves are going a bit speckly, would that be a nutrient issue? They've been in those tiny pots for a month.

 

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How do I "plant"? Never done it before. I was thinking core a hole in the soil with an old Starrett, pack in some fresh compost and drop the bean in. In it's little cardboard container still?

 

Got my 93 year old man moaning "If you don't get them in you won't get a crop!" :)

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39 minutes ago, Onoff said:

How do I "plant"?

Dig over a trench about a spades width and 6 inches deep along the bottom of the frame so the soil is loose and 'workable'. Add a bit if manure if you have some, but if not, just use a liquid feed later if necessary.  Scrat a hole in desired position so that the top of the compost in the pot goes just below the soil surface. Cover up, firm in, repeat until finished.  Water well! 

 

Those cardboard things are designed to be planted and degrade, but they do restrict the roots a bit.  I'd pull off any bits you can without causing too much root damage.

 

The marks on the leaf look like light insect damage, maybe grazing by thrips or something.  I wouldn't worry about it, there will be enough leaf to go round!

 

Your old man is right; get them in!🤣

Edited by Roundtuit
typo
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Well they're in! Whether they're "in" enough I don't know.

 

IMG_20220605_115247038

 

Dug two 4/6" deep trenches. Filled with compost. Half a bag of "Westland with John Innes" then a full bag of Grandiol from Lidl. SWMBO didn't like the Lidl one saying it's got "bits of stick and stones in it". I thought it was fine.

 

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I slit the cardboard pots and just sort of pressed them down and packed some of loose soil around them that I'd dug out doing the trenches.

 

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The weaklings I generally put where they'll get the Sun first. 

 

Let the games begin! Off out in minute in search of cheap beer for some traps.

Will start assembling the frame today too when laddo surfaces.

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Great effort, but get some more soil over the top; if you don't get the top of the pot/compost covered with soil it sort of acts like a wick sucking moisture out of the surrounding soil and evaporating it.

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3 hours ago, Roundtuit said:

Great effort, but get some more soil over the top; if you don't get the top of the pot/compost covered with soil it sort of acts like a wick sucking moisture out of the surrounding soil and evaporating it.

 

Will do. Just going out to cut a piece of mesh, the seed tray will now double as a sieve. I'll put some of the trench soil down. 

 

 

Edited by Onoff
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Got the frame half up. Suddenly dawned we were 8 pieces short on our steel cutting list!  All nice and square / level. I'll put some diagonals in on the corners with rivnuts to take out any wobble. Then net & gate time (once I've cut and painted the missing steels).

 

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Sieved some soil and packed a bit more over the top of the cardboard pots, firming down as best as:

 

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As for the slug traps I'm trying:

Cheap French beer in a tuna / bean can and 3 bricks:

 

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Half sunk / tilted pop bottle, again with beer in. That might not be such a good idea. Emptying might be a pain:

 

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In fact by putting traps inside the enclosure will I be attracting slugs and snails? Should the traps go outside?

In the interests of H&S I thought I'd best sample the poison myself. Christ, I'm used to better things, British Bulldog it ain't! I actually feel sorry for the poor little critters dying in this. It's actually quite offensive:

 

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A sprinkling of wood ash around the perimeter and that's it for today:

 

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Edited by Onoff
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The beans survived their first night!

The cat was weird last night. I'd had words telling him it was his job to earn his keep, patrol etc and keep the vermin off. Looked like he'd had a hard night this morning.

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