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Cornucopia - Australia

slaters and pumpkins

21 years ago

If I put cardboard under my baby pumpkins will it help keep the slaters from eating them? I have lost a few small ones already.

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Comments (18)

Volvo_54
21 years ago
Now there's a thought???....What if it rains??..
Cheers
Raymondo
21 years ago
They're the bane of my life. I grew my pumpkin vine out over a paved area, so no problem. Don't know about the cardboard. Is there a way you could perch the pumpkins up somewhere? The little beggars climb, but they may go looking for something else first, and once the pumpkins get to a reasonable size (hardness?), they lose interest!
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annabel__WA
Original Author
21 years ago
Forgot about water being wet:-( I may just experiment to see if the go under the cardboard rather than the pumpkins. I went out and perched a few on plastic pots, a brass pot, a pot lid and I'll see what else there is lying around. The ones on grass seem to be OK, just the ones in the garden beds. I did use slater killer earlier, but it would cost heaps to get rid of them now-there are just so many!! Luckily most of the pumpkins so far are of a hard, warty skin.
ozmantis
21 years ago
I have a bit of fun on hot days with the little blighters. I have a black hose out in the vegie patch, and when I get home the water in the hose has to be near boiling, so I turn the water on slow, and soak around the concrete and timber garden borders. Cooked thousands of the buggers
he he ho ho har har weeeeh.
Volvo_54
21 years ago
Whilst we is on the topic of Pumkins??..Whats peoples thoughts of cutting of the tip of the runner after it bears one or two Pumkins..
I'm finding that after a few have set the rest of the vine is reluctant to hold on to any more of its young uns..
have read somewhere that doing so encourages the remaining pumkin ta grwo bigger???..
Cheers
Raymondo
21 years ago
I've heard that too Peter, but to encourage side shoots and so more fruit. I guess once a pumpkin has set a couple of fruit, it thinks its job is done!
ozmantis
21 years ago
I cant get my butternut to give out a female flower, they are all yellowing and dying on me. Damn plant is about 20 foot accross so it should have pumkins by now eh.
Raymondo
21 years ago
Same here with my cukes and zukes. Loads of flowers - all male!!!!!
annabel__WA
Original Author
21 years ago
There's always a solution from someone in the CWA! :-))) She tried a dish of a honey solution and got loads of slaters next day-all dead. I still have honey from dipping rose cuttings so will try that. The dog does not get into the veg area so won't drink it!!
Volvo_54
21 years ago
mantis try a wee more water around the main root system and also give the vine halfeway along a drink as well..
My vine has been putting out heaps of fruit but only a few dont go yellow and drop off..
Whether due to the heat n humidity or thirsty i'm not sure, but what i will do these next days off is go along and chop off all runers that have set a good pumkin or two..
Mindya my new Cukes so far have heaps of flowers with none setting so dont know if its due to the hot weather, Nematodes or what???..
cheers
Peter
ozmantis
21 years ago
Had a look at pumkin this morning Peter and there are a couple of large female flowers that look like they will open tommorow or the next day. I reckon I'll do that pruning like you as my plant has heaps of runners. I dug a heap of composted chook poo into its planting hole, jeez that stuff really works:-)

Cheers
Mantis
DerbyTas
21 years ago
Slaters will almost never attack growing vegetables unless something has damaged them first....such as snails or slugs...slaters prefer decomposing organic matter to live vegetables (from my experience...and I have many slaters...backed up by entomologists....would love to get first hand knowledge to the contrary)
Fruit set in curcurbits (etc) is better if conditions are humid
Cheers
Peter
ozmantis
21 years ago
Got to get some flowers yet Peter. Volvos cukes are at the top of the trellis and haven't produced one flower. Seedlings bought from the store next to them have produced pretty well.
Raymondo
21 years ago
Peter (DerbyTas), slaters round my neck of the woods will eat many young plants, particularly petunias and verbenas, strawberries, tomatoes and a host of other things. I have them in the millions. My soil is very sandy and I have almost no slugs and I've never seen a snail. I go out regularly at night with a torch to check. The best solution I've found is to keep fruit up off the ground. They don't seem to care for heights. If I wasn't moving, I'd abandon dry mulches as this provides plenty of other food and shelter.
Volvo_54
21 years ago
Bit of n observation ...have three different variety Pumkin in the ground(i think) and have noticed that most littly Pumkins that arent touchin the soil or Grass but are high in the air seem to survive or go the distance??..ONly most the ones touchin the ground that yellow and fall off??..
Cheers
Jamus_S
21 years ago
To DerbyTas - I too have big problems with slaters, and more importantly pill bugs, in my garden. We have watched them sitting up in basil plants, 10-20cm up off the ground munching on the leaves! Healthy green leaves! They eat my sage, they eat holes in the leaves of a lot of plants in our garden. I've seen them doing the same on my girlfriends prized Hostas, much to her disgust. I shall endevour to get a photograph of this happening because I've been told time and time again that they only eat dead material. Oh how I wish that were true... Cheers
annabel__WA
Original Author
21 years ago
I was doing my usual check of a Begonia in a basket when I spotted movement on the tuber. SLATERS!!!!!! There were dozens of the ****Â£Â£" things:-(((((((((( I chucked out all I found by digging around in the soil with an old fork. There must have been eggs in the potting mix or in the Lamium pot. I wondered why all the baby plants had died leaving just one tough stemmed carnation. Pity there's not something we can just sut on without costing a fortune. Ann
ozmantis
21 years ago
About a week ago I planted some beans in a patch that had the tommys pulled. The first one up in only 4 days but the next day only a stump. I am not sure what did it but it could be slaters or earwigs, so I have been sprinkling carboral dust over the bed since, and no more destruction.

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