Re: Slugs and Slaters (No. 2)

Michael Bailes wrote:
 
> Do we need to kill everyting that moves in the garden?
> Some slugs such as the Leopard Slugs only eat decomposing vegtable matter  and left over cat food.
> I can't imagine slaters doing serious damage at all
> Some  old gardening books recommend you kill the earthworms because they  poo on your lawn.  But surely we need to be a bit more tolerant in 1998?

Michael
As a long-time lecturer on organic gardening I couldn't agree more.
After running my garden on organic lines for more than twenty years I
find the problems with pests have steadily decreased and the less I
intervene the less problems I have, due no doubt to the balance in my
increasingly-enriched ecosystem.

One of the problems which has almost disappeared over the years is aphid
attack on the roses. This I partly ascribe to the very good diet the
plants receive, which actually makes them LESS attractive to pests than
a sickly individual (there is a good scientific explanation for this)
but also to the encouragement of natural aphid eaters (particularly
hover flies) by growing nectar plants for them (dandelions are beaut for
this along with dill and wild carrot or Queen Ann's Lace (Ammi majus)).
All I seem to get nowadays are small colonies which disappear naturally
in a day or two. 

Besides the insects, we do get birds helping, especially the Waxeye (or
Silvereye), which I understand is an Oz native which blew over here in a
gale around a couple of hundred years ago, liked it and stayed. They are
dear little birds and clear the aphids off roses and other flowers like
columbines most assiduously. One thing I find useful is to have a trap
crop around to keep a few pests going so my "helpers"  can be fed and
content. For aphids the odd plant of puha (Sonchus oleraceous) works
well and is not at all intrusive in a bed of salads or a mixed border. I
usually, however, pull the seedheads of most of them to avoid being
swamped.

Mind you, I prefer NOT to find my Hosta leaves full of holes, but I have
started to implement an exclusion policy for slugs and snails by
scattering diatomaceous earth through the clumps. I also  recently
successfully protected  newly-planted cauliflowers from the same pests
which were trying to defoliate them.

And I frustrate carrot flies by putting a net fence round the patch
which they haven't enough sense to fly over.

One insect I am not very tolerent towards is the cabbage caterpillar if
it appears on my brassicas (one can't love everyone!), though I avoid it
when I can by cool-weather growing and sometimes keep it off the plnats
while they are small with netting covers or even (if I am not too
pressed for time)  by examining the backs of the leaves every few days
and wiping off the eggs before they can hatch.

I don't think most people apprciate the good work on pest control done
in gardens by hosts of small spiders. I tend to leave odd weed patches
around my beds in summer to make living quarters for these, and if I
have to get rid of these plants for any reason cut them down first and
leave for a while to let the inhabitants migrate elsewhere.

But my first rule is never squash, spray or swat anything without a
really good reason.

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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