Day 2: Connecting with nature to improve my wellbeing in the dark winter days by investigating the slugs on a plant pot
I love Molluscs. Slugs and snails are both types of mollusc. Molluscs are a large group of animals with the same characteristics; they all have a soft muscular body, a mantle and a radula (rasping tongue). Molluscs are a diverse group of organisms which include octopus, the common garden snail and limpets to name a few. Slugs are molluscs.
Many species of slug do have an internal shell under their mantle (the smooth saddle like structure on their backs). There is an organ under the mantle that processes calcium ions and this is where some slugs have an internal shell. I think slugs have a bad reputation. There are 30-40 species of slug in the UK. Only a small number of these species eat plants. The rest eat decaying plant matter and other sources of food.
I specifically garden to encourage wildlife into my garden. The video today is of a broken pot in my front garden. It was 6 degrees but felt like zero degrees when I was out filming. The only animals wandering about were the woodlice. I decided to look under the pot to see if there were any invertebrates. I found the slugs on the underside of the pot. There are three slugs in the video two of the them are garden slugs. I am uncertain what the other species is, I did not want to disturb them or potentially harm them by trying to pick them up to get a closer look with my torch.
I do suffer from slug damage on my seedlings in the Spring. I have tried lots of different organic methods to deter the slugs. The most successful is to go and remove them from the seedlings in the garage and put the slugs outside in the front garden. The wool pellets work really well but you need a large number of them to deter the slugs. One of my friends uses pots with rings of copper to grow her Hostas and this has worked really well for her.
It is important to me not to kill anything in my wildlife garden. So, my main method of stopping slug damage is to not grow plants they slugs will eat. Geraniums, lavendar, rosemary, and melissa are all untouched by slugs in my front and back gardens. I am still researching and experimenting with different types of plants that the slugs (& snails will not eat).
A large part of my front garden is a mini wild flower meadow and the plants are sturdy enough to withstand the molluscs munching. The annuals I grow for the pots each year are more vulnerable. I always try and grow the plants to a strong, healthy point before planting them outside.
I hope that you enjoyed the second video of the slugs and some ideas for living alongside slugs in your gardens. I love watching slugs and snails. You can see this if you have looked at the other videos on my YouTube channel. I always think that watching them is like watching an organic lava lamp.