News archives - Nemaslug

• Press Information

• Nematodes and potatoes
• Swedish Slugs Get The Nematode Treatment
• Children successfully use Nematodes
• Control slugs now to avoid high populations
• Slug free allotments
• Our Chrysanthemums are slug free
• Children taking part in slug survey
• Nematodes for slug control
• Lost gardens of Heligan - a cornish slug haven no more
• Snowdrop rescue
• Invaded by millions of slugs
• Nemaslug saves jobs!
• Enjoy your garden - rather than feed the slugs

Nematodes and potatoes

Branston Ltd, one of the country's leading potato suppliers, is helping their growers discover just how good Nemaslug is at controlling slugs. Based in Branston, Lincolnshire, with further production sites in Somerset and Scotland, the company has an annual turnover of more than £100 million and is Tesco's largest fresh produce supplier, sourcing around 400,000 tonnes of potatoes a year.

Slugs are a serious and potentially very costly problem for potato growers, so Branston is keen to find an effective solution. Following successful field trials in 2006, Branston encouraged a number of their growers to use Nemaslug during 2007. The initial target was to treat 100 hectares with Nemaslug, but due to the wet and humid season demand increased to over 450 hectares.

"This year 30 of our growers tried Nemaslug and it was so successful that we are encouraging more of them use the product in 2008," says Dr Andy Barker, R&D Manager at Branston.

Branston recommends Nemaslug to its growers and supports them to ensure its correct application. Keeled slugs (Milax & Tandonia spp.) are particularly problematic in potatoes as they are more active underground and therefore harder to control with conventional pesticide pellets. "Nemaslug works well in the places that pellets can't reach," says Andy.

Water is key to successful growth and also to enable nematodes to reach the slugs underground. When the weather is dry the nematodes need to be watered in well. In the garden, the judicious use of a hose pipe or sprinkler is sufficient to wash them in. Branston and Becker Underwood are collaborating to develop application through the standard raingun so that growers will be less reliant on the weather.

"We're keen to encourage the use of Nemaslug, either as a continuous programme or in conjunction with other modes of control as part of our Integrated Crop Management strategy (ICM)," continues Andy. "As Branston supplies Tesco and follows the Nature's Choice guidelines, reducing the number of slug pellets used is very attractive. Using environmentally friendly controls, such as Nemaslug, can help towards a greener environment and a more sustainable approach to slug control."

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Swedish Slugs Get The Nematode Treatment

Slugs have been a big problem in Sweden this year and their gardeners have been turning to Nemaslug for help. 2008 has been the first year that Nemaslug has been available in Sweden and sales have exceeded all expectations, according to Bionema, who sell the product in that country.

“People in Sweden think Nemaslug is perfect, because they can use it to kill slugs and they don’t have to worry about making other animals like cats, birds and dogs sick. We have so many house pets,” says Petra from Bionema. “Swedish people are also very afraid of using dangerous chemicals.”

“Nemaslug achieved a fast registration in Sweden this year and Bionema promoted the product with great results, just in time for the slug onslaught they’ve had this year,” says Dr Graeme Gowling.

“People are tired of picking up slugs and killing them with scissors or making beer traps, using salt or even putting them in the freezer,” adds Petra. “They don’t want to put up fences or put out pellets that get rained away.

“The slug problem is spreading in Sweden and they are a BIG trouble, eating almost everything,” explains Petra. “In some places the people even have to walk on them! One man that I talked to had been injured when he slipped on them and hurt his leg muscle.”

So Nemaslug is set to become a Swedish best seller!

[top] Children successfully use Nematodes

As nematodes are completely safe and easy to mix, they have notched up notable success when applied by school children. Here we recount some of their recent stories.

Teacher Lesley Hunter from Creavery Primary School in Antrim, Northern Ireland reported to Becker Underwood that in her school grounds the children were growing perennials and vegetables. She didn’t have a particular problem with slugs but the snails were in need of constant control as they were climbing everywhere. After using Nemaslug she said it was very effective and there were no signs of slugs and the snail numbers had greatly reduced. “I am very impressed,” declared Lesley.

Becker Underwood doesn’t specifically promote Nemaslug as a control for snails, but over the years gardeners have reported that snails tend to keep away from ground that has been treated with nematodes. The Cardinal Wiseman School in Coventry was one of the first of four schools to be designated a Rural Dimension School.

As part of their curriculum they teach rural science - half agriculture and half horticulture. Gardening is high on their agenda and they have an active after school gardening club for the younger pupils as well.

In rural science they have to cover biological pest control and the children used Nemaslug on their hostas, lettuce and indeed anything that was vulnerable to slugs. They drenched the ground at the end of June beginning of July and through the summer had very little evidence of slugs. The pupils applied Nemaslug under supervision and used the experience as learning initiatives in literacy, numeracy and biology.

Steve Thorpe from Haworth Primary School told Becker Underwood that the gardening club had always needed to use pellets to control the slugs and that they had found that snails were an increasing problem over the past couple of years.

The gardening club grew cabbage, cauliflowers, brussels sprouts, carrots, beetroot, lettuce, peas and beans in their raised vegetable beds. After using Nemaslug Steve said, “Nemaslug was very impressive in controlling our slug and snail problems. It was very effective and thank you for telling us about it.”

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Control slugs now to avoid high populations

Gardeners are discovering that there are more slugs around this spring. As allotment holders spring dig they are discovering slugs active beneath the surface and early food crops are getting damaged by slugs. Touch the compost heap, pick your daffodils, move a slab or a flowerpot and there are plenty of slugs to be found. Normally at this time of the year, with more severe frosts about, there would be fewer slugs.

The garden centres are enjoying a boom from early gardeners and the slugs are enjoying early meals on customer purchases. This spring has been wet and humid so far and Becker Underwood are enjoying lots of early sales of Nemaslug. Gardeners should act now to keep this year’s overall slug population down. The weather this spring promises to see large numbers of slugs hatching throughout the year. We had a wet and humid spring 2006, which led to a bumper crop of eggs being laid last autumn, followed by a mild winter and now a humid spring. This all equates to a boom in the slug population.

Slugs are still the number one garden pest in Britain. Each grey field slug can have up to 90,000 grandchildren, each with around 27,000 teeth, looking to consume it’s own body weight each day. Each cubic metre of soil contains an average of 200 slugs with up to 95% of them below the soil surface where pellets can’t get at them. By applying nematodes now you will reduce the slug numbers for the rest of the year because you are killing the slugs that have over wintered and hatched early. More people are taking advantage of planned programmes, which means nematodes arrive on your doorstep just when you need them.

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Slug free allotments

Allotment owners at Otford near Sevenoaks in Kent and at a flagship site at Worthing in Sussex have notched up great successes in their vegetable growing this year after taking part in trials for Nemaslug slug killer. One Sevenoaks allotment owner reported a better than ever germination of his peas, whilst another reported no slug damage to her potatoes and yet another was able to grow Cara potatoes, usually loved by slugs, for the first time in years. Six allotment owners at Otfort took part in the trial and one more, who had seen the successes, subsequently asked to take part.

Says Otford allotment agent Barbara Hines, “Our potatoes have been really good this year and it must be down to Nemaslug.”

Otford allotment owner, Gordon Darby was persuaded to grow Cara potatoes for the first time in years to see how they faired on the trial. Gordon said, “I haven’t seen a slug on my allotment and I experienced 100% germination with my peas. Allotments are usually vulnerable places for slug damage and using Nemaslug has made my allotment slug free and I am very impressed.”

On the Worthing site, several plots had lettuce, radish and sweet peas (all slug magnets) coming up and they were all untouched. Where there was manure and fresh compost, on Drew Douglas’s plot for instance, you would tend to see slug activity and there was none. Tony Butler reported that when he cleared out around his strawberries, another area whether slugs tend to hide, none were found. The consensus of opinion on the Worthing allotments was that everything ‘was green and clean’.

Says Becker Underwood’s general manager, nematode division, Dr. Graeme Gowling, “It is the grey field slug that is the most common and does most of the damage. It spends most of its time underground and is therefore largely unseen but can be seen more readily at night when it comes out of the ground to feed on the plants. Larger slug species can be more conspicuous due to their size and their habit of spending more time on the surface. However, they are usually far less numerous and are more generalist feeders feeding not only on plants but on decaying matter and other small creatures on the ground. Nemaslug is the only product that can kill the most common slugs beneath the surface before they can do the damage.”

Safe for children, pets and wildlife, Nemaslug is so easy to apply. Just dampen the soil and then drench the nematodes into the ground by using a watering can or through a feeder. Some of the allotment owners used an applicator – putting the powder into the container and then letting the water run through the mixture for 8 minutes making sure that their allotment was completely covered, whilst others measured out the compound and applied it by watering can. The allotment owners applied Nemaslug in April and some made a second application six weeks later.

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Our Chrysanthemums are slug free

In this ever-demanding world for products that are high quality with reduced use of pesticides, favourably priced and produced within budget, chrysanthemum grower, Jim Willis the nursery manager in charge of one of SGP’s five acre greenhouse in Barnham, West Sussex is achieving his goals with the help of Becker Underwood, the nematode producers based in Littlehampton. By using Becker Underwood’s Nemaslug, Jim has eradicated his slug problem and stopped the crop wastage caused by the pest.

SGP are the largest chrysanthemum grower in the UK and they were already using Becker Underwood’s Nemasys F to prevent thrip damage when Jim told them about the slug damage that he needed to eradicate. Jim was both pleased and amazed at the excellent results achieved as soon as he started using Nemaslug, a natural and extremely effective way of killing slugs. The slugs just disappeared and he no longer had crop wastage caused by the little holes that slugs leave in the leaves should they get into the chrysanthemum growing greenhouse. “It was fantastic,” says Jim, “The supermarkets who buy our plants require top quality undamaged stems and I am now able to achieve this thanks to Nemaslug.”

Every couple of years the greenhouses are sterilised and they are usually pest free for six months and then the pests such as slugs start to creep back. With the help of Nemaslug and experience to date, Jim expects one application of the product to keep his greenhouses free of slugs until the next sterilisation is scheduled.

“We were using slug pellets,” says Jim, “but it was labour intensive and not at all successful. Becker Underwood say that one application of Nemaslug gives us six weeks control but we are experiencing much much longer than that. With slug pellets once the plants start to bush out if we get an infestation of slugs it is very difficult to control because the density of the plants stop us applying to the ground and of course the supermarkets wouldn’t like to see slug pellets caught in the axis of the plants, added to this you have to do repeated applications, especially in a greenhouse atmosphere. With Nemaslug it can be easily applied through the overhead gantry watering system.”

SGP’s experience is that by using Nemaslug they are saving money through having no wastage of flower stems caused by slug damage. They are using the product as prevention rather than cure and their valuable flowers leave the greenhouse for the sale in the supermarkets next day in perfect condition.

The SGP operation is fascinating to watch. During the summer the chrysanthemums take 11 weeks to grow and 13 weeks in the winter. They have a 24/7 operation and are cutting flowers every day except Christmas Day. The cuttings come in from the company’s nursery in Kenya, which experiences higher light levels than in the U.K., perfectly sized and dipped in rooting powder. The operators then plant up the cuttings into peat blocks. The newly planted chrysanthemums are put under plastic to root in seven days and are then hardened off for a week. They are then placed in the glasshouse, where they root into the recently turned soil for the last nine weeks. Cut by robot, packed by pickers and put into tubs the chrysanthemums are in Sainsbury’s ready for sale the next morning.

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Children taking part in slug survey

Young gardeners at Sidestrand Hall School in Sidestrand, Norfolk are digging deep to find slugs in a national school’s survey. The pupils will be using Becker Underwood’s Nemaslug, an effective, environmentally friendly way to control slugs that uses nematodes, on their school gardens. Last week, John Manners from Green Gardener, based in Brundall, went along to the school to show the pupils how to apply the nematodes and to talk to them about natural ways of controlling other garden pests.

The survey is being undertaken by schools that have signed up to HDRA’s organic gardening schools project. It asks pupils to answer questions on previous experience regarding slug control, including what they have used previously to control slugs and the problems they have encountered. The survey then goes on to ask questions about their use of Nemaslug.

To see how well Nemaslug has worked will be lots of fun for the pupils because 95% of slugs are found beneath the surface. They will therefore need to do quite a bit of digging to try to find the slugs. As Nemaslug works by killing the slugs underground, where they ‘disappear’, the children should find few slugs and their potatoes and other plants will be protected.

“Children are always fascinated by nematodes,” says John Manners of Green Gardener. “To discover that a microscopic worm that you can’t see can be so effective at killing slugs always catches their imagination. We also talked about other natural predators and as schools cannot use chemicals in their pupils’ gardens they were of course very interested.”

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Nematodes for slug control

An ideal slug killer is effective, safe and should not be a blot on the wonderful landscape of plants that is your garden. If this is what you are after, consider the following.

Slug Facts:

• 95% of slugs are to be found below ground. It is important to target slugs below ground when seedlings are starting to grow.
• There can be approximately 200 slugs per cubic metre of soil.
• Now consider the following:

Nemaslug

Slug Pellets

Nematodes attack slugs below the ground. How it Works: Nematodes enter the slug through the mantle then release a bacterium within the pest to stop it feeding. The slug dies and the nematodes reproduce within the pest. One application protects for 6 weeks. Nemaslug can now be applied using a garden hose feeder system. Over applying an area with nematodes does not pose any threat to birds, wildlife or pets. Works even better when it rains. This gives the nematodes increased moisture through which they can move and attack the slugs. In dry weather it is important to water young plants to help them grow. This gives the nematodes the best environment in which to attack the slugs. Once applied, there is no residue to see – only your plants. Totally safe to use on food crops.

Cannot reach slugs below ground and therefore misses 95% of target. How it Works: The metaldahyde chemical affects the mucus membrane of the slug leading to dehydration and death. Need to be re-applied frequently. Slug pellet manufacturers recommend you apply little and often. Over application can pose a threat to birds, wildlife and pets. Rain results in degradation of product thus necessitating re-application combined with rehydration of slugs. Watering has the same affects as rain. Pellets are visible on the soil surface – not a pretty sight. Care needs to be taken around food crops.

“Like slug pellets, barrier methods detract from the overall look of the plants, whereas a nematode solution goes directly into the soil to give lasting protection,” says Graeme Gowling, nematode general manager for Becker Underwood, the world’s leading producer of nematodes. “Nematodes are naturally occurring organisms, but their numbers are insufficient to deal with an infestation. By using Nemaslug, which is safe for children, pets and wildlife, the gardener adds more nematodes to the soil so that there are enough of them to attack the target pest. After a period of time the number of nematodes falls back to the background level of the environment, having eliminated their food source.”

The Nemasys range of nematode pest controls can be obtained by mail order (Freephone Advice Line 0800 085 3105), on-line at www.nemasysinfo.com and through some garden centres.

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Lost gardens of Heligan - a cornish slug haven no more

Most gardeners fear the annual onslaught of their vegetable patch by ravenous slugs, but Tom Petherick, director designate at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall reckons he’s found the answer. His enormous ‘1.5 acre vegetable patch’ and his walled gardens were once an overgrown forest floor and a haven for slugs. Now they are slug free after using Nemaslug, the nematode slug killer produced by Becker Underwood.

“Cornwall’s moist conditions are perfect for slugs,” says Tom. “We do have a lot of rain and the cultivated gardens are surrounded by trees. Nemaslug works for us and keeps our three acres of productive gardens slug free.”

“The secret to success is to use it properly,” advises Tom. “Apply a drench as soon as the soil starts to warm up and the seedlings start to germinate and it will destroy the slugs below ground, where most of them live, especially the smaller slugs that cause most damage to emerging seedlings.”

Tom, who trained at Oaklands in Hertfordshire where he gained a national diploma in Horticulture, has a particular interest in organic gardening, which he implements at Heligan, the famous Cornish gardens that were reclaimed from decades of neglect.

“Once the gardens had been cleared and brought back into use, I needed an effective solution for our slug problem and decided on Nemaslug having first read about it in the 80’s when biological control was kicking in,” continued Tom. “We apply the Nemaslug drench early in the season, being careful to make sure that the solution is applied right up to the edges of the paths, where slugs can lurk undisturbed. It is also worthwhile hoeing regularly, because slugs do not like to be disturbed.”

“We had a massive slug problem prior to 94/95 and we used Nemaslug to enormous effect. The product has shown remarkable results each year it has been used,” adds Tom.

“We garden using Victorian methods in the productive gardens, so everything is done by hand, pretty much as you would in your own garden. As we do not use chemicals, Nemaslug is ideal for us as it is both effective and safe, ideal for those of an organic persuasion.”

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Snowdrop rescue

When Kate Garton from Hodsock Priory discovered that slugs were helping themselves to the snowdrop bulbs she knew she needed an underground solution. After a good dose of Becker Underwood's Nemaslug® slug killer Kate noticed a definite improvement when the snowdrops started to break through the surface.

"The problem with most slug killers is that they don't deal with slugs below ground, which is where most of them are," said Kate. "By using nematodes, we were able to stop the slugs before they did real damage and this means a much better show of snowdrops for our visitors."

Kate treated some of the snowdrop beds with a Nemaslug® solution before Christmas to kill the slugs underground. The war will really be waged on the offending slugs at the beginning of April, when the soil temperature and moisture levels encourage heavy slug invasions, the ideal time to drench them with nematodes.

Hodsock Priory is described as a 'magical sight you will never forget - myriads of flowers in the five-acre garden plus a half-mile walk through the wood with sheets of snowdrops to delight you' and is a popular venue for garden lovers. Famous for its snowdrop and winter garden, the priory is open for five weeks from the beginning of February.

Nemaslug® is a unique natural product - the beneficial nematodes it contains are natural enemies of slugs - and nothing else. These microscopic worms are already present in the soil in small numbers. Nemaslug adds more into the soil and once their work is completed they die back to natural background numbers. Unlike many chemical based products, Nemaslug® is rainproof so the inclement British weather will not affect it.

As well as being highly effective (Nemaslug® stops slugs feeding on your plants in just three days), they pose no threat to children, pets and wildlife, leave no chemical residues in the soil and will never become pests themselves. Even if a bird eats an infected slug, it will not be harmed.

Contact Details: Hodsock Priory Gardens Blyth Nr Worksop Notts S81 0TY or for further information about Hodsock Priory ring 07860 329815 or visit www.snowdrops.co.uk

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Invaded by millions of slugs

Two years ago the 3.8 acres of glasshouses that growers Humber VHB in Littlehampton use for growing their cut herbs for sale in supermarkets across the country were also home to millions of slugs until Becker Underwood, also based in Littlehampton, came along with Nemaslug. Now there is not a slug to be found!

"The warmth and humidity of the glasshouses coupled with the fact that the slugs could also hide under the Mipex sheeting through which the herbs grow, makes the soil an ideal breeding environment for slugs," says Bert Makin who is responsible for Humber VHB's cut herbs section. "It seemed an unwinable battle, but we worked with Becker Underwood to kill our slug problem and last year there was not a slug to be seen. We have a controlled environment where slugs have just disappeared. We are confident that we shouldn't have any slugs this year but if we do then we know that a Nemaslug regime will solve the problem."

Nemaslug was applied to the soil through the irrigation system that runs under the Mipex every four weeks during the application period.

"We provide cut herbs for many of the major supermarkets and before the introduction of Nemaslug we estimate that we were losing up to 15% to slug damage," says Bert. "Customers to the supermarkets want perfect produce and there was no way that we could deliver slug damaged herbs. We achieved organic status last year and all pests are biologically controlled."

Bert has been in horticulture for over 40 years and has been in charge of Humber VHB's herbs section for the past three years. Grown in rotation, the tasty herbs receive tender care from his staff as they are hand planted and hand picked. The greenhouses under Bert's control house the most popular herbs like mint, chives, coriander, flat leaf parsley and basil.

All the herbs are at different stages of growth to ensure a continuous supply to harvest. On average they take five weeks to grow at this time of year. Their growth is not affected by the weather because they have a controlled environment under glass and then when they are packed off to the supermarkets the herbs are clean and healthy.

Bert estimates that the nursery is the largest place under glass for growing cut herbs. Totally organic, the soil is fed with spent organic mushroom compost but the system also makes use of composted green waste materials. The Mipex is recycled, they use CO2 as a waste product from the boilers to help the plants put on weight and soon they hope to be recycling the rejected plants.

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Nemaslug saves jobs!

“If I didn’t have Nemaslug, I wouldn’t have a job,” says Dave Morris of Golden Plain Marketing, who grows nearly 20 million lettuces a year. “Anything that is slug damaged is not wanted by the supermarkets. Our lettuces have to be in perfect condition when they leave our fields.”

Dave is responsible for 500 hectares of Iceberg, Romain and Little Gem lettuces and 40 hectares of celery that ends up on supermarket shelves. The supermarkets set the specification and quality including the precise weight that a lettuce must be when it is harvested.

To ensure that there are no slugs on the lettuces that leave the fields the growers drench them with Nemaslug 10 days before they are cut with two applications. The first drives the slugs out of the lettuce and the second makes sure that they are all gone. This year is perfect weather for slugs and their numbers erupted but Dave was safe in the knowledge that he will still have a good crop because he used Nemaslug.

For optimum effectiveness they apply Nemaslug as soon as they see a slug applying the solution at night, starting at 9pm and completing the spraying by 3 or 4 am.

“As soon as the Nemaslug is down the slugs just disappear,” says Dave, “With our type of growing environment we don’t apply Nemaslug too early or the nematodes will be lower than the slugs. Because the lettuces are on to of the surface and the roots don’t go down very far the slugs tend to be no deeper than a foot.”

When it comes to harvesting everything is done in the field. Very labour intensive, the perfect lettuces are cut, trimmed, bagged, labelled and packed in boxes in the fields and then loaded on lorries for direct delivery to the supermarkets.

The lettuces are grown in an open environment, mostly in two crops planted at a rate of a million per week and taking just over 30 days to mature. The lettuces are planted mechanically with an operator following on with a dibber to fill in the gaps, often walking 8km per day.

160 seasonal staff accompanied by 12 billion nematodes look after Dave’s lettuces and without Nemaslug his crop would be totally lost. Using Nemaslug he has a 6% loss of crop but he is working with Becker Underwood’s scientists to reduce this even further.

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Enjoy your garden - rather than feed the slugs

It’s great being outdoors again and able to enjoy sunshine in the garden, but if you’re not careful there may be clouds on the horizon. Bedding plants are extremely susceptible to slug damage and it can be soul-destroying to plant up your borders, containers and baskets with expensive annuals, only to lose them to a few voracious slugs.

Slugs can also be problem in the kitchen garden. The majority live underground, so often aren’t apparent to even enthusiastic gardeners. Coming out at night, slugs can destroy a whole crop of young seedlings in no time at all. Potatoes are particularly susceptible - and no-one wants holes in their spuds!

However, there is an answer and one that will suit environmentally-friendly gardeners. Nemaslug is a completely natural product containing millions of microscopic worms called nematodes. These are indigenous, so are not harmful in any way. By watering these nematodes on to the soil, you are simply boosting the soil population, so that they can really work their magic.

The nematodes chosen are host specific, so will actively search for slugs within the soil. The nematodes enter the slug through natural body openings and prevent it feeding. They digest the slug’s insides and produce millions more nematodes which move out into the soil, where they search for more slugs to attack.

Think of the nematodes as heat-seeking missiles with slugs in their sights, and you’ll see how effective they are! One application of Nemaslug provides 300,000 nematodes per square metre of soil! Nemaslug is also simple to use - simply water it on to the soil using a watering can with a coarse rose or a hose-end sprayer. One treatment will control slugs for at least six weeks. It’s more effective than slug pellets or traps, because in these situations the slug has to make its way to these, whereas the nematodes go to the slug!

Nemasys Vine Weevil Killer works in a similar way, but uses a different nematode that attacks the larvae of this problematic pest. Both products can be used immediately in the garden, with no adverse affects to the environment. Once the nematodes have killed all the pests, they die back down to natural levels.

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