Arkansas folks speak up.........

[ole red]

yup, had enough rain to last awhile aready.

wishful thinking on the fire ants i guess!

 

[arllcountrygirl]

If anyone is interested.

Cuckoo Maran Chicken hatching eggs. Hens lay a nice size dark brown colored egg. $1 each, $5 for 1/2 dozen, or $9 dozen.

http://littlerock.craigslist.org/grd/1163020085.html

 

[ninjapoodles]

OK, this non-stop rain, right when my strawberries are fruiting--HELP! SLUGS! I'm hardly getting any of my berries, because the slugs get there first. I won't treat with pesticides, because the whole point of growing them myself is so they'll be chemical-free. I've got the old stand-by beer traps out, but is there anything else that will work? The strawberries are in a raised bed on the ground.

 

[arllcountrygirl]

Would putting salt around them work? I know that salt kills slugs.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
That's what we were wondering...I mean, since it's a raised bed, I could easily salt the edge of the boards around the bed. But then I worried if that salt got washed into the soil it could harm the plants. I'm remembering all those old-timey stories where conquerers would "salt the earth" of a vanquished land, so that nothing would grow there...

 

[arllcountrygirl]

OK, here is what I found

Please do not use salt, because it will eventually poison the soil. And whatever you do, slug pellets are a no-no because, although they work, the slugs are eaten by other creatures who are then poisoned, and so on up the food chain.

Slugs are a symptom of a garden that is out of balance. All gardens have some slugs, but in a healthy garden they are eaten by birds, hedgehogs, whatever is around in your part of the world. When slugs take over it means the garden has had chemicals applied to it to the point that the ecology is seriously screwed up.

Therefore, if you have slug issues the last thing you want to do is screw the ecology up further with poisons and salt. Try surrounding plants with sharp sand or gravel. Crushed eggshells (rinsed first) also work, as does diatomaceous earth. The gravel or sand is cheapest and does not harm to anything whatsoever. The slugs simply will not cross it.

Also check out
http://www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/snails-slugs.htm
http://perfectperennials.tripod.com/id7.html

Hope that helps.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Quote:
This is who I got my cuckoo eggs that are in my bator now. These people are very, very nice! Drove all the way from Malvern and delivered them to me in Benton! I didn't ask them to do this, but the day they were ready to get them to me, I had to be somewhere by 5:00 and was at work so they drove them in.

I'm on day 3 so far and can't expect to see anything with candling until at least Monday. I sure hope I got lots of fertiles!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Well, I don't use any chemicals, but I do have everything heavily mulched, and I know that holds in moisture.

I can sure try sand and eggshells--thanks!

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Well I'm not so sure it means that there aren't enough birds. I have NEVER in my life seen so many slugs, earthworms AND birds before I lived here.

Lay anything on the ground for a day and underneath it will have lots of slugs and earthworms. Birds lived in my attic for a year before I evicted them with hardware cloth. I used to see many birds drinking out of the dog water bucket more often than the dog did (till I moved the bucket to the porch) There is definitely no lack of birds here I can see them from my computer they come and sit on the clothesline quite a bit, and I have a feeder out there too - and we still have slimy crawlies all over the ground!

 

[arllcountrygirl]

yea - they are all over the place here too.