permaculture

[Steve Robinson <s.l.robinson@elvis.murdoch.edu.au>]

hi there helen,

ah yes slaters, persistent little critters that they are...

you could try sprinkling dolomite around your seedlings as this deters 
slaters,
or you can put potato peelings nearby as they will eat these in preference to
almost anything else. one last thing you can try is a small container of beer
partly buried - with an opening in it to let the slaters in - they are 
attracted
to the yeast and will drown (happily?) in the beer...

good luck

steve

HELEN COLEMAN wrote:

> Fellow Permies,
>
> Does anyone have an environmentally safe answer to slaters?  They have
> chewed their way through several plantings of seedlings, including cherry
> tomatoes, broccoli, basil, beans and lettuce.  I will have to resort to
> growing vegies in pots on the verandah if I can't find some way to keep them
> away from the seedlings - the poor little things don't even last 48 hours in
> the soil, and after growing each one from seed its quite heartbreaking!
>
> Thanking you for any advice,
> Helen