|
Organic Gardening |
|
Two persistent pest in our zone 7b gardens are slugs (especially bad this year) and quackgrass, the perennial weed whose rhizomes run underground to pop up in our garden spaces year after year. After battling both pests this year, I searched for tools on the internet and found an excellent article entitled "QUACKGRASS (ELYTRIGIA REPENS) CONTROL METHODS IN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE" by Jean Duval. If you are like me and getting a little tired of pulling this weed from your garden, this 18 page report will give you a few new tools to work with as well as a better understanding of what you are up against. As gardeners we know that one man's weed is another man's treasure, so here's two treasure facts about quackgrass to give you something positive to think about as you are ripping this nusance from the ground:
- Animals love the stuff. Dogs, cats and wild animals eat the leaves to facilitate digestion or induce vomiting when they are sick. A few kilograms of quackgrass rhizomes mixed in with the daily feed of a horse will give the horse a shiny coat.
- During the food shortages of the First World War, bread made from quackgrass was popular in southern Germany. The seeds as well as the rhizomes were used to produce a nutritious flour to replace wheat and other grains. Dried rhizomes can also be used to make brushes. As well, quackgrass roots contain a substance that is fatal to slugs.
Mother Earth News confirmed the quackgrass theory of slug control (note: there is an error in the article where they first refer to quackgrass, then say crabgrass) plus gives a few more suggestions for doing away with the slimy creatures. Most articles suggest beer in a trap but my friend Shaun enticed slugs with a trap of soy sauce plus cooking oil to drown the beggars. The Hosta Guy at Matthews Market told us to leave liquid slug traps for only a few days, then remove them so you don't attract more slugs to the area. Repeat placing the traps every 2 to 3 weeks.
We love food grade Diatomaceous Earth as a slug control. When slugs crawl over DE it causes their slimy exterior to dehydrate. A major drawback - it must be reapplied after rain or overhead watering, which can add up to a lot of work with the weather we've had this Spring. We use it primarily under the cover of the hoop houses with drip irrigation.
We have heard that thin strips of copper tape and bands of copper mesh are also used to deter slugs because when slugs come in contact with the copper they get an electric shock. Prevent slugs from crawling into raised beds by attaching a 2- to 3-inch wide band of copper tape about two inches down from the rim of the beds and use small nails to tack it in place. This method is a bit out of our budget, but for a small garden it may be attractive as well as effective.
|
|
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sincerely,
Mary Roberts, Farmer
Windcrest Farm
Worry is as useless as a handle on a snowball.
-Mitzi Chandler
|
