[net.garden] use of black plastic sheeting

archiel@hercules.UUCP (Archie Lachner) (03/12/84)

     I recently read an article in a gardening magazine describing a garden
made of raised rows covered with black plastic sheets.  A drip irrigation
system was installed under the plastic, and holes were cut for the plants to
grow through.  The object of this was to create a low-maintenance-time
high-productivity vegetable garden.
     There is one problem that the article did not address, slug and snail
control.  We live in the slug capital of the country, Oregon's Willamette
Valley, and keeping the slugs from eating the vegetables before we get a
chance is a constant battle.  One possibility would be to put slug bait under
the plastic when it was put down.  This doesn't sound good to me, since the
irrigation system would dissolve the pellets and spread the poison to the
plant roots, etc.  Another method would be to use Deadline on top of the
plastic around all of the plants.  This would work well for slugs above the
plastic, but not for those that might get underneath it by hatching there or
some other means.
     Does anybody have any other suggestions?  Please respond to the net.
Thanks in advance.

				Archie Lachner

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-- 

				Archie Lachner

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rib@pyuxdd.UUCP (RI Block) (03/14/84)

While wet weather is common to the Pacific NW,
it was not a problem here in Central NJ until last year.
I had an *invasion* of slugs. Black plastic is a slug-related
problem only at the corners of the season; late spring and summer
days are hot enough to *cook* any slugs that would venture under
the plastic.

There does not seem to be a really satifactory approach to slugs;
I don't know of any biological controls and metaldehyde pellets
are toxic to children and pets.

The control which I do know of:

	- Beer (yeast is the active attactant)
	- Slug traps (contain the poison & shield from rain)
	- Decoys (cabbage leaves or boards left out and checked)
	- Gritty impediments (wood ashes)
	- Rigorous cleanup of garden area
	- Handpick at night
	- 1% acetic acid spray during (night) feeding time

None of these are specific to balck plastic, of course;
the idea is to keep the population down in the general area.

I would love to hear other ideas on slug control because
the creatures do a real number on my head lettuce (which of course
grows only during prime slug time).

ken@hp-pcd.UUCP (03/30/84)

We save dried crushed EGG SHELLS all year.  Sprinkle the egg shells
around plants.  Soft bodied slugs can't stand the sharp shells.
We live in the Willamette valley and using other mentioned techniques
and egg shells we are able to control slugs even though we use lots of
mulch all year round.
				-Ken Bronstein
				 hp-pcd!ken