Question
Hi Charlotte,

Ooooh yuck!!! I just went outside and what I thought were dead leaves on the patio have turned out to be slugs!!! They seem to be coming from a very overgrown and moist shrub,although they also seem to be on the lawn. Strange that the gardeners have not noticed this and the poison they sprayed 3 weeks ago did not kill them. What should I do as these guys obviously don't know what to do!

Thanks!


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Followup To

Question -
Hi Charlotte,

I recently moved to Dubai and have a small garden. The problem is that over the last 2 months the grass has started to become very patchy and in fact, some of the parts that have become patchy have now just become sand.i am totally clueless about gardening, we have a gradening service that comes twice a week to water, mow the lawn etc. and I water the garden every day when they are not here. They usually water for about 20 minutes a day (as do I). The thing is that the temperatures are now extremely high (about 45 degrees celcius) and although the gardening service comes at about 4:00 the days they come, I try water at about 7pm. I have tried pulling at the grass that is patchy but it does not come up easily, and am not sure if it could be a pest as the gardeners sprayed poison a few weeks ago. Another problem is that even when watering for a short while the ground gets very saturated. Could it be that I am overwatering?Should I maybe get fertiliser? I would ask the gardeners but they don't really understand english! Thanks for your help!

kind Regards,
Melanie

Answer -
Hi Malanie;
Ok, I have no idea if you have grubs there, but if you do. turn over a spadeful of soil, and see if you have grubs. If there are more than 6, that is what is killing your grass.
It could be the watering.
I water till the soil is weet at least 6 inches down.
Roots come to the surface to get water, so if you water deeply, the roots will not have to come to the surface.
when they come close to the surface, the heat can kill them easily.
I water once a week, and water that deep. My grass roots are about that far down, so they survive out Texas summers.
I don't know metric. Our temps here in Nort Texas raach 100+.
A week or two of 100F and above is natural here from about the last of May on until late October.
We don't have very cold winters. It rarely gets below 20F.
I water for hours.
I use soaker hoses, and lay out my pattern, turn n the water and let it run until it starts to run off onto the sidealk. then i turn it off for about an hour or so to let it soak in. then turn it back on again.
the shaloow watering could be your biggest problem.
Just get enough sugar to put 1 pound per 250 Sq. Ft. of lawn and garden.
That will nourish the beneficial microbes that enrigh the soil.
I don't use fertilizers at all.
for 8 years, all i have used on my lawn is sugar, water deeply, and mow and edge.
The saturating could be that you have too much clay in your soil.
Clay won't let water soak in.
After you water, and it sets about 30 minutes to an hour, dig up a spadeful and see how far down it is wet.
Is it normally harn to get a spade in your soil?
If it is,, that is because it is too tight, from either clay, or something I don't know about.
Over here, hard soil means lots of clay.
After you see how far down the soil is getting wet, write me back. If clay is the roblem I will tell you some things you can do.
If clay is not the problem, write me as much detail as you can, and I will research till I find an answer.
Charlotte

Answer
Hi Melanie;
Slugs, EEWWWWWW !!!
Those things make my skin crawl. LOl
Toads love slugs. Can you get some toads?
Also, slugs won't crawl on sharp surfaces because they will cut uop their lil undersides and kill them.
Lava gravel is very sharp. You can't dig around in lava gravel or rock, cause those sharo ruidges will slice you up,pretty good. Learned this by experience. LOl
Lava sand may not be abrasive enough, but the gravel should be.
Sprinkle that on the area under those shrubs, and everywhere you can to chase them away.
They like moist areas, and they feed off your plants.
You can make slug traps, something I never had the guts to do.
Put a shallow pan with beer in it, in the area where you have slugs.
Put tis out at night as that is when those litle creeps come out. the beer attracts them, they slither into it and drown.
This is why I could not ever do it, you empty it the next day, with the lil drowned sluga in it.
YUCK!!!
You can sprinkle salt on them, and it will disolve them. Disgusting looking thing, but it only takes a little bit of salt to kill them.
I don't know what you have available over there.
Egg shells crushed up make a good slug barier, but it takes a lot of egg shells to cover much.
anything sharp that will scratch up their underneaths.
There are slug baits you can buy. I used to use one that was supposed to be safe to use around animals and childtren, but I don't remember why the manufacturer was.

Organics is the best answer to all the problems, because grass snakes, toads and lizards will eat all those pesky things.
I don't know what kind of grass snakes and lizards you have over there.
Anoles are what we have here.
any lizard eats bugs, but you want to be sure the lizard is not a poisonous on that will harm you.
Are you very familiar with searching on the web?
If not, write me what you want looked up. I am a searching whiz.LOl
I will search for you.
Charlotte