Slugs

T Hectares

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Berkshire
I think the combination of a hot and dry early harvest, dry Sept/Oct and later drilling has lead to a massive reduction in slug pressure from last year.

Might be different in other parts of the country though :confused:

I had 15 slugs per trap in early September on ex OSR shallow cultivated ground, another shallow pass lead to 2 per trap a couple of weeks later and a flush of BG, happy days !!

Edit, will add it's easy enough to find eggs, if it turned wet the situation could change but with the forecast set fair for another week we should be out of the woods...
 
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Desangosse Ltd

Member
Location
Cambs
Any holiday would be nice. :rolleyes:

The slug pressure in certain parts has certainly dropped off, this is down to dry conditions and soil temp, allowing the crop to grow away. Nevertheless, we are not out of the woods yet, the recent rain will favour activity so keep alert :cautious:

Do please remember - If drains are flowing (or close to) of heavy rain is forecast, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE use metaldehyde..

I'm off to pack my trunks......
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Thoought you'd have a no-till mankini...

I'm on my 4th tonne of metaldehyde, and off doing a couple of fields where the Claydon's coulter gulleys haven't been well consolidated. The wheat is emerging but if it turns warmer & wetter I'm expecting another flush.
 

juke

Member
Location
DURHAM
Thoought you'd have a no-till mankini...

I'm on my 4th tonne of metaldehyde, and off doing a couple of fields where the Claydon's coulter gulleys haven't been well consolidated. The wheat is emerging but if it turns warmer & wetter I'm expecting another flush.
What sort of forward speed were u running the drill at
 

Tractor Boy

Member
Location
Suffolk
Thoought you'd have a no-till mankini...

I'm on my 4th tonne of metaldehyde, and off doing a couple of fields where the Claydon's coulter gulleys haven't been well consolidated. The wheat is emerging but if it turns warmer & wetter I'm expecting another flush.
I used to use pellets with the Claydon routinely and another dose over the top about 7-10 days later. This year I got complacent using a 750 as the slots were smaller and filled better. Bad mistake as the slugs wreaked havoc on 2nd wheat under the trash carpet!
 
I have been applying bits and pieces here and there, according to what seed beds and conditions look like. I would say September was worse for them, maybe it was milder or something. October stuff seems a lot less affected.

I had genuine concerns for the christknows how many acres of new leys I have had put in to look after, and had to pellet some of those but one dose and it's away. Conversely on some farms couldn't spot any damage at all. One place had 150 acres after cereals, didn't get a sniff of them. Very odd.

Pre-emptively applied pellets to 150 acres of direct drilled wheat. Being so dry the Claydon did a fantastic job but I was concerned how easy it would be for them to get at the seed.

Probably have applied more pellets than last year but nothing like what I thought we might have had- damp summer etc I thought there would be masses of the blighters.

Nothing like 2012 thank goodness.
 

Banana Bar

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Maybe a change of agronomist is required ??

Tbh I don't think an agronomist should be the only one who checks or decides on slug pellet applications. We all know where slug problems start year after year on our own farms so there is very little excuse to not keep an eye on things. We have treated every acre with Redigo deter this year which has undoubtedly helped, but the biggest factor has been the ability to create perfect seedbeds that have received little and often rain events.
Slug pellets about to go on 100 ha of emerged crops.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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