Can't make it work

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Slugs are 95% about consolidation zero till or cultivate its nearly always about consolidation

If your discing and raking multiple times is really saving time and money anymore ?
 
Is there an animal or insect that preys on the slugs and their eggs which we can introduce or at least promote to even out the ecology in our favour.
There are nematodes that can be used but v expensive. They are native so ok, never wish for a non native introduction as there has never been one without collateral damage before. Rabbits, signal crayfish or Japanese knotweed to name a few.
 

JCfarmer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
warks
Badgers eat hedgehogs and both eat slugs.:mad: But more hedgehogs and less badgers would be far better for a balanced environment.(y) Good to know staying with the Claydon Rob, although more cultivation passes are needed. I may stick with tillso advantage, carrier for cultivation if needed and tine drill. Need the tillso bit though and apprehensive about spending money on kit until we know whats happening with glyphosate! May need a new plough instead.
 
@Feldspar Has your slug pellet use reduced since using the Terrastar?

We have used more slug pellets this year than any other. In some instances I thought I was over-reacting, but upon reflection I don't think so. Snails have been a big problem for the first time ever due to lack of soil movement. I'm not that convinced that the Terrastar made much difference, although it's difficult to tell. The worst problems we had were behind OSR where we Terrastarred twice and rolled before drilling, pre-pelleted, pellets with drill, and then two lots afterward in the worst two fields. Tried Breakthru product and I am afraid to say saw no effect at all - followed instructions to the letter too. Really annoyed with this block because conditions were really good when we drilled with some moisture but not too much. Crop looks fine in most areas now, but it's worrying for future years.

On rape field, admittedly on the other farm was moled, then Terrastared twice, then disced in parts with some demo Joker discs, and then we decided to maschio the whole lot just before drilling because we still hadn't managed to level the moles (which were at right angles to the tramlines). That field has had a lot less slug pressure than the other rape block. Lighter fields within the same block definitely better than heavier fields due to better seed to soil contact.

Early second wheat that we zero-tilled had to be pelleted 1.5 times (i.e. 2 kg/ha with the drill followed by 4 kg/ha afterwards) and that's OK. Late second wheat zero-tilled had quite a lot of hollowing with the same slug pellet use -- should have done another dose.

Barley that was Terrastarred twice and rolled was pretty OK. This was our first drilled and didn't have any pellets with the drill. I did a bit of the hybrid barley with metaldehyde because I we've never grown it before and I didn't want to cock up at the beginning. With the benefit of hindsight that probably didn't need it. The one bit of zero-tilled barley had problems with straw hairpinning and left the seed more exposed to the slugs. This was the one bit of winter barley that did need a dose of pellets.

Overall I am quite concerned about the amount of pellets we have used. To those who think that you have the same or worse problems when ploughing -- this is quite contrary to my observations. When we ploughed everything every year we very rarely used slugs pellets despite growing OSR (although admittedly 1 in 8). When we had the Claydon drill we started using a bit more. This year in blocks that have been Claydon drilled and drilled with the 750a, I wouldn't say slugs have been worse in one or the other.
 

Rob Holmes

Moderator
BASIS
....just for balance, these are pics of the OSR that followed the crop of wheat that I did my Slug trail in (Pic's taken 7th Nov)

CwpmYzpXEAAiFWH.jpg

CwpmUpJW8AABHIF.jpg


This was baled, then subsoiled on headlands, then raked and drilled.

1 dose of pellets
 

Shutesy

Moderator
Arable Farmer
@Feldspar do you think it could just be this winter thats bad for slugs given the warm wet winter last year and the late wet spring meaning the weather didnt deal with any slugs over the last 12 months. I am a bit suprised how bad slugs have been this summer/autumn as it has been so dry in our neck of the woods. Could have been a lot worse i guess if it had been a wet autumn!!
 
@Feldspar do you think it could just be this winter thats bad for slugs given the warm wet winter last year and the late wet spring meaning the weather didnt deal with any slugs over the last 12 months. I am a bit suprised how bad slugs have been this summer/autumn as it has been so dry in our neck of the woods. Could have been a lot worse i guess if it had been a wet autumn!!

Yes, the warm winter last year did mean a bad spring. But then the seriously long dry spell should have acted as a countervailing force.

I think a lot of it is trash giving poor seed to soil contact and shallower seeding depth. I have just been out and have walked out winter beans. Without question the worst field is the one field that we didn't Terrastar. Also, the worse the spring barley crop was, the better the emergence. In the zero-till bit the seeding depth in the trashy areas was poor which has allowed the rooks to pull the beans out. They have now got the hang of this and have done quite a bit of damage in this one field. Also the slow emergence of the beans are not being helped by the slugs which are eating the beans to the point where I am going to slug pellet this field (and none of the others). This is a classic example of where a cheap cultivation pass has easily paid for itself.

At the risk of stirring up a controversy, the one thing that has been worse that I have expected with the 750a is its ability to punch through surface trash. I've seen that in the 2nd wheat, 1st wheat after OSR and in the beans. The stuffing of trash into the shallower than normal slot in trashy areas then exacerbates any slug and avian problems that are present.
 
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DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
For all the recommendations of having abundant surface residue by manufacturers and no-till gurus, life certainly is easier when you take it away. Also a further illustration that there is no point being held hostage by a system and a set of principles, whether it's having to run some discs or tines over a stubble multiple times or cart the straw away.

It all looks easy sitting in an armchair, but get your head down at drill level in a trashy field and watch the disc however sharp or heavy rolling over lumps of trash and it doesn't look so rosy.

Most seed likes a firm fine consolidated seedbed without residues lying about. This doesn't preclude direct drilling entirely but it makes windows of opportunity much narrower and much more chance of a screw up.

If bale all my straw I'm carting humus and nutrients away and I need another contractor to do it or more kit. Not much saving there.
 

JCfarmer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
warks
I must confess I haven't had to use many slug pellets this year at all, 4kg of tempt on wheat after rape, patches on 2nd wheat and thats been it. Must have been lucky with cultivating at the right time for a change. Osr has had none.
 

RushesToo

Member
Location
Fingringhoe
Here's my project, don't expect too much, it ain't a Phd thesis!
Good report, you will use it when you can't quite remember what you did and why you are still doing it. Evidence bsaed decision making has many merits.

Doing it again next year will be a hassle if you do it and an annoyance if you don't.Not sure that there are any words of comfort to this thought, you will get value from any you do. Well worth the effort.and a useful read.
 
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