February guest speaker report

Our speaker this month was Ben Rowson from The National Museum of Wales talking about slugs. Now, a lot of people would think very negatively about slugs, especially in a garden setting, but Ben`s first question was “Can we forgive them?”  The answer is maybe, but in any case we have to tolerate them. But we should also not under-estimate them.

The charges against them are that they eat our plants, fruits and vegetables. In commercial terms, they cost the industry £100 million in damages each year. Gardeners spend £10 million on slug pellets, and some plants simply can`t be grown. Slugs are regarded as the No.1 pest. There are slug resistant plants eg. pulmonaria, sea holly, hellebore, ferns, penstemon, sedum, to name a few, but not many vegetables are slug resistant.

The UK is one of the worst countries for slug numbers. They arrive from Europe in plant pots. They have several thousand teeth, more than any other animals in our gardens, and the teeth are replaced as they lose them. They have evolved from snails over millions of years and there are 43 species of slugs in the UK. They have both male and female parts and reproduce by mating (we were treated to a video of this!) or by self-fertilisation, and in rare case they clone themselves. They can produce hundreds of young each year. 

They do have their uses. They eat dog poo on pavements, and  they recycle nutrients to create compost. They are eaten by frogs, slow worms and ground beetles. The serial offenders are the herbivores – field slugs which are small and the ones that create the most damage, and the underground slugs. First time offenders are baby slugs, and the large black slug which is worst in springtime. The non-guilty slugs are tree slugs which don`t eat plants, only lichen and fungi. Green slugs eat pet food so you may find them near pet food bowls. The lemon slug only eats mushrooms. Ghost slugs feed on earthworms. The brown garden snail is in fact the worst offender of all, much more than slugs.

The verdict is that half of all slug species are innocent, and the other half are mainly the re-offenders. For the guilty ones, sentencing can be carried out in various ways eg. collect by hand, feed to ducks, put beer traps down, create barriers around vulnerable plants, or use nematodes.

Ben`s talk was absolutely fascinating and he was very interesting to listen to.  It was very well attended and everyone enjoyed learning more about these `pests`. Thank you to Ben, and to everyone who attended.

Next months speaker is Rob Evans from Pheasant Acre Nursery with a talk on summer flowering bulbs.