BASF Nemaslug

As you will have seen this year I'm having a load of slug and snail problems, some of this I have caused because of my leg injury and running late I didn't get all my slug traps down and decimate the numbers adequately and early enough. 

Then we have had so much rain that flood warnings have been issued and the Grotto canal in Carshalton park was full and flowing down to the high street and no doubt flooding Westcroft sports Centre again this year. With all this moisture it's been a slug and snail paradise. 

An offer to trial BASF Nemaslug was made to a number of bloggers and I've taken advantage of it and yes I'm waiting for them to arrived.  So if you have not heard of Nematodes, you don't know what they are and how they work then below are three very informative videos that will bring you up to speed.  






How do Nematodes work? 

Can I see the wife allowing me to store these in the fridge, I very much doubt it! 

However the literature and guidance from web sites is that when you receive your pack of Nemaslug place it in the refrigerator immediately and use in one go within the use by date (which can be up to four weeks)  



BASF Factory Tour 



Why choose Nemasys and Nemaslug? 

Nemaslug is less effective on cloggy clay soil, which has not been worked and / or has become waterlogged so it's not going to be too effective down on plot 1 which has not been dug over or the beds put in yet. 

Nemaslug comes in two pack sizes to treat 40 sq metres at a cost of £12.99 and 100 square metres at a cost of £23.99.

Based on treating a 2.4m x 1,2m bed which equals 2.88m a 40 square metres  pack will cover 13.88 beds and a 100 square metres pack will cover 34.7 beds. At the moment I have no idea which one they are going to send but I suspect it will be the 40 sq metres pack. The figures are obvious based on mixing correctly and applying as directed on the pack.  

There is a good article from the Daily Telegraph written in 2011 that explains in detail how you can make your own free version of Nemaslug and the video below shows how to make your own nematode solution if you would rather watch a video rather than read the article. 




Slugs are generally active when plants start growing and soil temperate is over 5 degrees C  Young slugs tend to stay underground, feeding on decaying organic matter, developing unseen and waiting for young seedlings to be planted. They breed all year with two overlapping generations. Peak egg laying is March to April and September to October. So if the soil temperature is adequate Nemaslug or Nematodes can be used between March and October.

Bearing in mind that it's only effective for six weeks, I think when I get mine I will use some of the nemaslug to infect slugs caught and placed on an island of vegetation in a bucket with a lid so that a couple of weeks later I have another batch ready to use and again use some of that batch to create a third batch if I'm still able to catch enough slugs to make it viable I shall keep producing home made Nematode Solution and keep applying for as long as I can between March and October. Next year I will buy a pack and use some of that to start off the DIY Nematodes in bucket process.  

For those that are too lazy to find the slugs and make their own they can buy nemaslug every six weeks so that's about four times a year, between March and October.

I will update you on how things pan out with Nemaslugs and the home made version.

Planting Out .....

The way the slugs and snails area attacking everything this year I decided that six butternut squash in one bed was a good idea as perhaps one in six will survive. A layer of slug pellets were used under the membrane and those slugs that were discovered when the blank sheets were lifted were dispatched to sluggy heaven. My excess butternut squash plants were donated to two other plot holders. 

A number of us turned up with additional plants that were offered to other plot holders so now I have a Pumpkin in the back of the bed that I have put the Piccolo Di Parigi in along the width of the bed. These green pickler cucumbers or Gherkins grow to about 75 - 100 mm long and are supposed to be one of the first cucumbers to produce fruit and produces over a long season. 

From what I have read about them they are supposed to taste nice if used fresh or for pickles. I tried growing last year and had no success, this year I got six nice healthy looking plants. They don't look well in this photo but there again Cucumbers resent root disturbance and have to be transplanted carefully, but I'm sure if not attacked by slugs and snails they will soon buck up and look healthy as they did when I took them from the greenhouse.  

The trellis is a little short and I will extend it as they grow. I'm going to make some better frames up next year rather than using the old dog cage and fire guard that I have been using.

Along the side of the framework are four Kiwano horned melon plants, I have grown these once before. 

I've had these seed over from a seed parcel and tried all the the seeds I had left to see if they would germinate and they all did!. 

This exotic fruit is from the family of melons and cucumbers, it has an oval form and hard, orange skin and little horns. Inside it's jelly like with lots of edible seeds and very sweet taste similar to a mix of banana, melon and cucumber. The fruits store for several weeks. 

I moved the potatoes in buckets and the troughs with tulips in down to plot 1 so I have three beds worth of potatoes in buckets. I was surprised just how wilted some of them looked bearing in mind the amount of rain we have had. They the trees and all the other beds had a good watering,  

The sweetcorn have been battered and munched a little and again a sprinkle of slug pellets have been added. I had one spare which went in to replace one that was dead and two other holes have been filled with marrow plants which I'm quite happy for to wonder around the sweetcorn and across the paths between the beds, again if the snails and slugs don't get them. I gave two more marrow plants away to other plot holders. 

The beetroot bed is really disappointing there are very few beetroots that have germinated or that the slugs and snails have not eaten. I have sown a load in the two Agralan Propagators and hoping for some plug plants soon, but I think a re sowing in situ once I have received the pack of Nemaslug to trial from BASF is in order, I still have time and I did so well with beetroots last year that a have a huge stock of pickled beetroots under the stairs in storage.

Finally after last years two plums that appeared and there were lost when something had them away, I have a large number of plums this year, some within the middle of the tree are still green but its a sight to behold. 

This tree needs training as it got away from me last year but that's a project for when the sap isn't rising and I can minimise its growth and train it more along the path. 

Two sacks of grass from my sister along with shredded paper, and kitchen & dead flowers were placed in the two active Daleks who always seem to know just how much composting down they need to do between being topped up again were filled to the lids again. 

Wasps are making a nest in the bottom of the greenhouse that is full of crap, and I need to attack the trees that are now resting on my shed on plot 1A thanks to the builders next door and their attack on the trees. I have so much infrastructure works to get on with that I'm glad that nearly all the available beds I have are now full so that I can concentrate on getting everything sorted and ready for next year.