Slugs and my Strawberry plants 9 June 2020 at 3:52PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 6 replies 141 views

drummer072

I have loads of strawberries on my plants but I also seem to have loads of slugs. I am growing them in a raised bed with bark on top of the soil. Any suggestions as to how I can protect the fruit from the slugs would be gratefully receive as new at growing fruit. Thank you

MoneySeeker1

Watching with interest - though, in my case, it's the blackbirds that I think are the culprit.

My strawberries are barely there yet and certainly not ripe - but they're already checking them out at regular intervals I can see.

greenbee

Blackbirds are easy - just net the strawberries. Get the right size netting so that pollinators can get in but birds can't.
Slugs are more of a problem. I've found that letting the grass grow long has increased the numbers of thrushes and blackbirds in the garden. They're certainly getting through the snails, so hopefully also dealing with the slugs. I also have sparrows and blue tits eating the greenfly etc on the roses!

Davesnave

Everyone hopes that something will or other will be effective against slugs, but recent research reported by the RHS suggests very little, apart from pellets, is. Sharp or rough surfaces, like bark mulch get the thumbs down in real life conditions. The new  ferric pellets are, theoretically, organic, but some of us find them less effective too. Meanwhile, since an industry legal challenge and 'temporary'  unbanning, no one is very sure if the old ones may be coming back. It's quite like another fiasco that's going on currently.

At least the beggars can't fly!

MoneySeeker1

greenbee said:

Blackbirds are easy - just net the strawberries. Get the right size netting so that pollinators can get in but birds can't.

Now wondering what specific size of netting would cater for bees getting in to pollinate, but be small enough to cover birds not getting caught up. Sounds like it would be an idea to get some for other plants in my garden too - the birds got literally every last berry from my aronia bush last year and it's size seems to have increased by an enormous amount since then (but I expect they'll still have every one - now they've found it if I leave them to it).

Does netting come with different "width of hole" (so to say) measurements on it and, if so, which is advised please (for bees and against birds)?

greenbee

There are lots of different sizes of netting, and most suppliers are pretty clear about what it's for. I have veg netting that keeps out butterflies but lets in small pollinators and fruit netting that keeps the birds out and insect netting that keeps everything out. Anywhere that sells fruit or veg cages will have what you need. 

youngie

I use beer traps against slugs it doesn't get them all but I found it certainly helps