Whats going on here ?

[JDarvall]

I thought gardenings sposed to be easy.

Somethings eating my lettuce, beatroot and spinach. The lot. And its not me.

What do I do now ?

[echnidna]

put down some snail pellets

[Ashore]

Hammer , Block of wood and a torch and sit out there all night and when they come to eat smash the little blighters, or put snail pellets around the garden.

[Barry_White]

Looks like caterpillars Jake. Maybe a sprinkle of Derris Dust. With gardening it's always a competition whose going to eat the most out of a garden the bugs or you.

[JDarvall]

Ta. . Mentioned pelts to the misses , but she said not to do that, cause it'll kill the dog.

will mention Derris dust.

Thanks.

[Bleedin Thumb]

The way that the leaves have been eaten in the centre rather than the edges tends to say snails or slugs to me.

To treat snails put a few small lids around the plant filled with beer. The snails get pizzed and forget to hide when the sun comes up and die. Also crush egg shells over the soil.

The way to treat caterpillars is with Dipel which is basically a bacteria spore that you spray on the leaves -the caterpillar eats it & gets crook guts and dies - harmless to humans.......you are human aren't you tripper?

[Barry_White]

Jake

I've just been talking to my daughter tonight that lives up there and she says that it is caterpillars because there has been a plague of moths.

One of the ways to get rid of them is to get a few of them and put them in a blender or crush them up and mix some water with it and spray it on the plants. The caterpillars hate eating themselves.

Another spray to make up is from garlic blended up and mixed with water. The bugs don't like that either.

Another thing to try is companion planting. If you speak to my daughter she can give you a print out on it. I believe you have met her because she loves your wife's cakes and reckons she goes up to the market every week to buy them.

[Ashore]

Jake if your worried about the dog getting the pellets put the pellets inside some heavy pipe , earthen wear if you have any then the snails can get in but the dog can't get at the pellets.

[JDarvall]

Ta Ashore.

.......you are human aren't you tripper?

I don't know.

Thanks for the tip. But you pulling my leg on getting those snails ?

I'm not sure that their snails anyhow. Theres no snail trails anywhere.

Another thing to try is companion planting. If you speak to my daughter she can give you a print out on it. I believe you have met her because she loves your wife's cakes and reckons she goes up to the market every week to buy them

Thanks for those tips..... I remember your daughter. Nice lady. My wife and her seem to get along. She's not so shore about me though.

You guys would know better than me.... But if it was catapillars wouldn't you see them, when you turn a leaf over. I couldn't see any.

In anycase we'll try and organise ourselves to companion plant and that bug spray. I like the idea of the beds being chemical free.

[Barry_White]

Here you go Jake this is an Organic Pest Spray for snails.

1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
water

all blended together, strain and spray on the plants.

[JDarvall]

Thanks for going to that effort. see how I go.

[rhancock]

Beer traps are widely recognised as the best organic method of controlling snails and slugs.

Have a look here for organic pest control products (Dead end cockroach mats are bloody marvellous!): http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestc...use_index.html

More info on organic pest control here: http://forums.permaculture.org.au/ft...ighlight=snail and here: http://forums.permaculture.org.au/ft...ighlight=snail

[JDarvall]

Thanks Richard.