Year 1 Slug Sleuth Feedback

[skye @ bofin]

As we come to the end of Year 1 for SLIMERS, find below some comments from our farmers who got paid to act as Slug Sleuths and partake in on-farm trials.

 

[Ewen McEwen]

It was time consuming, and maybe the Husk app needs a bit of tweaking, but it was very interesting and I'm keen to see the results. I presume it was a good year for slug trials given the weather - we found an awful lot of slugs, despite much more pelleting than usual, and also way more slugs in the problem area where we put the trial than a neighbouring field. We also found what seemed like a lot of beneficial insects in those traps, but I have nothing to calibrate that against. We did learn that dead beetle soup is quite aromatic, although the reason I stopped was that I didn't like to keep killing them!

 

[bruce_pattullo]

The monitoring of slugs taught me a lot about what’s happening in the field that I wouldn’t have otherwise known. It wasn’t too arduous but did take a lot of time. The husk app could be improved and be more ergonomic. I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to put in the time.

 

[Easter Myre]

My trial was late ebing set up due to the wet weather, but once set up, was interesting to follow. The monitoring process was certainly made easier with the Husk App, but some tweaking come make that a smoother experience. I have been battling slugs right through the winter and indeed pelleted in both January and February - need more frost and less rain please!
Hosting Kerry to photograph slugs for AI training was very interesting and I hope the robotic element to this trial is just around the corner.
I am looking forward to being able to put the findings into practice for next growing season.

 

[Sinkt]

Trial was well thought out but could tweaking:

The husk app needs to be 10x easier to use in the wet / wind / cold / mud
The traps need to be more substantial to deal with conditions
There could do with a meeting being out in near Xmas when people are quiet to reflect on issues

I am really looking forward to seeing the results from this. Super interesting project to be part of.

 

[RhysJ_PGFP]

Many thanks for a great first year of the SLIMERS trial.

I've enjoyed meeting other farmers and academics involved with the trial and Clive's insight into agtech.

The HUSK data app is way better than paper forms but I would agree that it could be a little smoother to use when trying to input so many data points. And if possible a meeting earlier in the year when farming is quieter would be good, but appreciate that it takes time to process so much data before we meet.

Looking forward to seeing some results and going again next year!

 

[Yapter]

Some of the sampling occasions were a bit grim in the wet, mud and cold making it difficult to use the phone and a couple of times I ran out of battery. Husk was pretty good but could be tweaked a bit to avoid needless repetition to navigate and record from one sample to the next. The slug monitoring part was more straight forward than the beetle monitoring element of the 2 combine trials.
Its been good to meet other growers and have direct access to the scientists etc. I feel that this is the most valuable aspect of it all.
If I have any reservations, its wondering how all this will translate into significantly new slug control strategies. From my experience I've got a pretty accurate idea of where the slugs like to be in my fields, what encourages them and what doesn't. I've not discovered anything particularly which has made me think that I need to change my control methods